Day and Night
by CorvidCoccinelle
Summary: Potter leaves for Rome after it's all over. Edward is in Rome to find solitude after Bella. some characters from more classical novels appear too. SLASH big time, but drama too!
1. Chapter 1

There'd been something about the house on the hill that had drawn Harry to it since the day he had arrived. London, England in general had become too complicated now it was all over with Voldemort. He'd tried to explain that he felt as though he'd had a whole life in just a few short years, that his life had taken on a narrative of its own, he'd needed to get away and live his life according to his own rules but he wasn't sure they'd understood him. In the end he'd bought the ticket to Rome and hoped they would understand.

And now, after four weeks of feeling this place pulling at him he was peering through a dusty window, expecting to see abandoned furniture and cobwebbed rooms. To his surprise there was neither of these. Instead the room he looked into seemed to be well kept, neat and clean. Far too clean to make sense with the dirty windows and the jungle garden which gave the place its abandoned air. Through the small hole he had cleared with spit and his jacket cuff he could make out what looked like an expensive stereo system, a computer and a small suitcase. There were no chairs or other furniture in the room. The whole place looked like a very tidy, minimalist office.

Leaving the window Harry walked around the side of the house towards the back door. Vines and brambles grew in his path and he muttered a charm under his breath to clear his path. Obediently the leggy tendrils snaked their way, avoiding his feet and revealing cracked and broken tiles in beautiful saffron and ochre shades. The back of the house looked even more deserted than the front. With no one to see his actions Harry prised his fingers against the door. The sense of pulling even more insistent now he was attempting access. The tug pulled at him, into his mind and heart, like a song you half hear or a face nearly remembered. The rotting wood gave with a groan and Harry stood inside the house.


	2. Chapter 2

Edward watched the young man break into his house. He saw his thin fingers pry at the broken wood and pull away a slice large enough to squeeze through. From his hiding place, away from the blazing Italian sun now pouring through the broken door, Edward watched first a slim leg clad in denim and then an arm, bare and pale, slide their way through and into his home. His sanctuary. He considered attack. How easy it would be to flash to the door, grab the arm or leg and frighten the boy into leaving but as he watched more of the young man emerge from the sunlight into the cool gloom what he saw changed his mind.

The young man was not tall by Edward's standards. His dark shock of hair hung over his eyes and he pushed it back absentmindedly. He wore glasses and now he took them off to wipe them on his black t shirt. As he did so he glanced around the room he had entered. Edward caught the beam from the startling green eyes as they took in their surroundings but the young man didn't see him. Maybe he was really short sighted Edward thought. Maybe his eyes had not adjusted to the dark inside the house. The intruder seemed to pause and think for a moment and then he pulled from inside his jacket a thin piece of wood. He muttered something to himself, Edward did not catch the word but it might have been Latin. A delicate light began to glow from the tip of the long stick, which the boy held as though it was a candle. With this meagre light the young man lead himself into the room at the front of the house. Edward followed.

Harry felt better once he had some light. He had been careful about using magic since he'd left England. He wanted to be a real boy, experience things he'd never encounter at Hogwarts. That didn't have to mean blundering dangerously about in the dark because he hadn't brought a torch. But he could have easily commanded the door to open to him but he had wanted to use his hands to get inside. It was too easy to use magic all the time. To make life too easy and safe. He felt alive, excited and he could hear his heart beating loudly in his chest and feel the zip and thrum of adrenaline through his body. Here he was, on his own, following this strange feeling which had been drawing him irrevocably to this beautiful, decaying old house.

The door to the room he'd seen through the window was ajar slightly and as Harry brushed against it he could feel the resistance in the rusting hinges. It was stuck between open and closed. As though whoever had left the place all those years ago had left in a hurry. The room was just as he had seen from the dirty window but now he could see a box and a small machine on the other side of the expensive stereo. On closer inspection Harry decided the machine was an electricity generator and this theory seemed to be borne out by its connection to the computer and the stereo equipment. The box contained CDs.

Edward watched the young man squeeze through into his room. He saw him move quickly to the generator, still holding his stick candle aloft. Edward could see that, although the light came from the tip of the wooden stick, the stick itself did not seem to burn away or diminish. Very odd, he thought to himself. It was this thought that made him decide to wait before revealing himself to the young man. He was now picking up Edward's CDs, turning them over with his long fingers, examining the cases. Edward watched those brilliant green eyes scan the covers and watched with amusement as the red lips smiled at what he had found. The young man moved to the stereo and switched it on. After a moment he found the CD controls and inserted a disc. Music swelled from the speakers and the young man jumped in spite of himself. Edward gave a low chuckle.

Harry hadn't expected the CD to play so loudly. The classical music crashed from the speakers and he jumped involuntarily and looked around anxiously. Surely if the owner of these things were nearby they would hear the music and rush in to confront their intruder? He stood and flexed his wand ready to make a move. But the house was still. Almost too still, as though it was watching him with unseen eyes. Harry shook his head and turned back to the stereo. The haunting music took full advantage of this quiet room and filled it with the delicate notes of a piano. Harry checked the CD cover. 'Debussy'. It wasn't something he'd heard before but the music moved around him like familiar arms around a lover. Gentle but with power. He closed his eyes.

'Clair de Lune' filled the bare room. Edward felt his body stiffen as the memories came flooding back. The smell of Bella, her voice and how she had held this very CD in her hands the time he's been brave enough to take her to his house. Edward had thought he would never play this music again and now this strange boy had chosen this track at random and brought all Edward's painful memories back to him. Then the young man stretched back his head and stood with his eyes closed. Edward's eyes were drawn to his long pale neck, to the thin blue veins that fluttered over his eyelids, to the slim white hands that dropped the thin piece of wood to the floor as the music clearly took hold of him. Edward saw the first tear well beneath the boy's lids. Gathering like a brilliant liquid diamond it ran down his cheek, leaving a shining path down from his eye, down the smooth cheek, down his throat and into the neckline of his t shirt. Edward wanted to follow the tear drop with his fingers, with his lips. What was happening to him? He shook his head silently. How had his thoughts of Bella, the girl he had been convinced was his mate been overtaken by this strange feeling for this even stranger boy? Edward felt out with his mind to hear the boy's thoughts. Nothing. Not a whisper or even the sense of shield that there had been with Bella. But clearly the music had moved the young man and Edward guiltily watched again the tears make their way down into the forbidden hollow of the white collar bone. Edward's nostrils flared slightly, taking in the scent of the young man. This boy did not smell like prey but he was delicious in another way entirely. Salty from his tears and sweat in the hot Italian sun and sweet in way that made Edward's throat constrict and his mouth dry up. Edward found himself drawn to the pale skin and the way that the boy's hair fell over one of his eyebrows as he held himself still, feeling the music. He felt himself compelled to move, to reveal his hiding to the boy, to have those green eyes fall upon him, to be drawn into the young man's secret world. He didn't understand. He had decided to leave Bella because of her age. How could he expect her to understand him, all he had seen, all he had felt and this boy seemed of the same age as Bella. His eyes were without creases and his face smooth and hairless. And yet the boy carried with him such a sense of knowing, of ages long lost and secrets hidden for longer than Edward had himself been alive. He was intriguing and compelling. And Edward longed to touch him.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry felt his magic drawing to him the feeling of pain and longing which surrounded the music. Not the feelings of the composer he mused, sensing the subtle differences from the gentle tendrils of magic which surrounded him and gathered the emotions to him. No, not the composer but the owner of the CD he decided. The person who owned the plastic itself, the burned image of the music. How apt his words were he thought, for these emotions did indeed burn. He rolled them around his mind, the sadness and the profundity of them. Tears coursed down his face, soaking his t shirt. Revelling in these borrowed feelings he pulled his t shirt over his head and threw it down. His body sang with lust and sorrow. He had never felt anything like it. It wasn't human. It was superhuman. No muggle, no ordinary mortal could feel this truly and live, he felt certain. The magic swirled around him and, even with his closed and teary eyes; he could see its patterns. Great loss after great longing encircled him and his body thrilled like the strings of the piano. And maybe it was because of his age or his innocence but the longing seemed to grow and encompass him. His body, ravaged by the great magical war he and his friends had fought knew nothing of this longing. Harry had nothing with which to compare this feeling which danced in his blood and rushed to parts of his body he had forgotten through his long, hard teenage years. Now the music gripped him totally, the magic washing over and though him. He felt himself reach out with it hungrily for this feeling carried on the music, felt the lust and wanting held within the silver of the disc spinning in the machine. He had to make it real, anchor it in the here and now. Harry reached down and touched himself. The gesture was innocent; it was just a reaction to the magic and its whispered message. He felt himself harden and he wanted more.

Edward's eyes widened as he watched the boy. The music seemed to thicken in the air. Eddies and currents of gold and crimson light lapped gently at the boy's body. The tears ran down his face and the light seemed to dance over it and into the boy's gently closed eyes. The boy pulled of his shirt, startling Edward so that he nearly stumbled from his hiding place. All his vampire grace was silenced by the sight of the boy's chest, panting and heaving and almost silver in the swirling lights that surrounded him. As the music reached a peak the boy moaned softly. The tendrils of light grew stronger and brighter, dipping and soaring about the boy, rising and falling with the music. Edward felt open, vulnerable as though the music was drinking from him every sharp shard of the feelings he had been running from. Drinking it from him and pouring itself into the body of this beautiful, incandescent, magical boy. His blood began to race and he felt the rush of lust he had thought had long dried up in him. With marvelling eyes he watched as though hypnotised as the boy slowly drew his hand down over his chest, his stomach till it slid carefully under the waistband of his jeans. His stance shifted slightly and Edward could see the music passing delicately under the material with his fingers. He had no doubt now that the boy was touching himself and Edward felt his own body respond to the thought of that touch. He leant back into the shadows mesmerised.


	4. Chapter 4

Edward, captured by the beauty of the boy and the desire he felt for him, leant back into the shadows. His shoulder caught the edge of the ancient shutter by which he had been hidden and its hinges creaked their protest.

There was a groan from the shadows. Harry whipped upright, instantly alert. Looking carefully in the direction of the noise, into the darkness, he carefully bent and picked up his wand. His heart was racing and the magic beat at him to continue what he had begun but fear had the lead now. 'Lumos' he muttered and the wand began to brightly glow. He picked up his shirt and hurriedly pulled it on. He switched off the CD and turned to go. He felt himself flushed at the music's effect on him and even though he was intrigued he had no wish to meet the owner of those intense and over powering feelings. He needed to feel in control again. He had to leave. Even as he traced his way carefully back through the rusted door and out into the dimming twilight sunshine he was aware that he would come back. He had to.

Edward cursed silently as the boy was shocked from his reverie by the noise. He felt a rush of conflicting emotions; confusion as he heard the boy whisper and the flicker of light return to the wooden stick he had picked up and disappointment and frustration at his own stupidity which was making this enchanted boy dress himself and leave. Should he follow him? It was dark enough outside to mask him from the mortal world.

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Harry closed the heavy curtains, shutting out the panorama of the ancient city and settling the dark around him like a cloak. The feelings of the afternoon in the old house stirred gently in the back of his mind. He felt embarrassed now, back in reality. With the music stirring his body and his soul he had felt free of inhibition and the self doubt which had plagued him all his life. He wished he could feel that touch of joy and ecstasy again. He knew that these were stolen feelings and that to truly experience that pleasure he would have to open himself to another person. Open his scarred and suspicious heart. But the guilty pleasure of those feeling washing through him without the vulnerability and risk was addictive. He would go back to the house tomorrow he decided. He had no other plans and he did not want to live without feeling those things again. He lay on top of the bed not bothering to cover him, the night was too hot and his thin t shirt and shorts provided him with enough warmth to sleep. His breathing grew heavier and his arms flung over his head.

Edward stepped into the hotel room like a ghost. The door made no noise behind him. Decades of hunting smoothed the noise of his actions. On the bed the boy lay sleeping. His chest gently lifted and fell with even, contented breaths. Edward took in the careless angle of his body, exposed and innocent. The scent of the boy was intoxicating and it filled Edward's head with a desire to breathe which he had not experienced in many years. He wanted to breathe the boy in, to inhale and exhale and have him there; inside him, permeating his dead cells and bringing him back to life as he had done this afternoon. Edward had been twice dead he now mused. Once when Carlisle had taken him and once when he had left Bella. Now, miracle of miracles, he was once again alive. Alive because of this boy. The feeling swelled inside him and threatened to overcome his reason. Gently, so gently he traced a cold finger along the collar bone of the sleeping youth. Harry turned in his sleep towards the caress. At the same moment Edward saw and felt the tendrils of light he had seen this afternoon snake out from the boy and gently stroke his hand in return. The touch was like fire. It seared into Edward and awakened the desire which had only subsided since the afternoon. He held himself still as the gentle fire licked at his hand, then his arm till it touched at his neck. He closed his eyes. The magic caressed him like a lover. It held his head and stroked at his closed eyelids shining behind them with an intense light. It swept down his body and teased at the erection which was now straining the fabric of his linen trousers. Edward felt panic, what was this strange power which had him so completely in its thrall? He could not move to defend or hide himself; he was helpless in its grasp. He moaned softly as the magic swelled over him, around him lighting up his body like a shooting star. The heat and strength of it astounded and cowed him. What was this boy that, even sleeping, he could have this devastating effect? He opened his eyes to see it, to try to understand what was happening. He saw his body, tensed and stretched out in desire, saw the hardness of his passion and knew that soon he would not be able to hold back. Then he saw the boy was awake.

Harry woke gently, feeling his magic all around him. It was hard to see now the sun had gone down and the curtains were closed but he could feel a presence in the room with him. An odd, heavy calm fell over him. Feeling out with his magic he touched something that seemed to glitter like ice in his mind. It burned so clearly and honestly that he longed to feel it. He stroked the glittering brilliance with his mind. It was beautiful and delicate. Harry's magic moved along its surface like fire, licking and teasing. In the darkness there was a soft moan. Harry's eyes widened to peer through the darkness. There was a boy on the bed with him. Seen through the magic the boy was glittering and shimmering like diamonds. He was unspeakable beautiful. And he was looking at Harry.

Edward looked into the green eyes through the veil of lust and magic which surrounded him. It seemed the most normal thing in the world to lean across the bed and brush his cold lips against the boy's hot mouth. He felt the boy gasp for breath beneath him and then he returned the kiss. Fire poured into Edward and engulfed him. Hands of flame ran over his face and grasped at the hair at the back of his head, twisting it so it lay on the bed and the boy kissed him harder.

Harry felt Edward's icy lips kiss him and fought for breath. His heart was hammering in his chest and the nearness of the glittering boy dazzled him. He caught himself and returned the kiss, heat welling inside him, threatening to break through him, through the magic. He was aware that he was holding the boy down on the bed, drinking in the glitter and sparkle of him.

Edward felt Harry's power and succumbed to it. He was helpless; the magic of this boy had him firmly in its hands. It stroked over him seconds before Harry's real hands ran down over his body, over his chest and between his legs. Like two lovers Harry and his magic devoured the vampire. Where his lips trailed the magic followed leaving Edward strung out along the lines of magic sparking between them. Harry moved over him and Edward felt himself alight, as though the sun had caught him in his powerful rays. Harry's instinct was to explore, discover. His body thrusting and his breathing ragged he held Edward with the magic and kissed him with a force he had not known he had. Years of the weight of prophecy, of fear, of manipulation fell from him as he chased the elusive peak of sensation and freedom he knew to be in reach. Edward marvelled at him, this glorious and driven creature. He was swept along by the tide of Harry's need and the magic drawing him on, into the light. Both of them felt the rush and surge of the magic as they were swept along, higher and brighter than before into release. Harry, washed clean of his past, laid his head next to Edwards's pale, cool temple. Edward, in awe and gratitude, gently kissed his cheek.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi, thanks for all your reviews and kind comments. Hope this isn't too short but I need to bridge the gap between H and E's first and second encounter. Now, a question. Am I being too soft on the sex? Please let me know what you think about that and the story in general!

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Listening to the boy sleep beside him Edward marvelled at the raw power that rippled off the boy in waves of light. Edward had never imagined a lover with whom he had no control, no need to hold back and protect his mate. He supposed that if Bella had been turned it would have been possible but to have a living, breathing, warm body dominate and hold him captive had been well...captivating. What happened now? He thought. It hadn't seemed as though this was a regular occurrence for this boy, the sex or the closeness. Edward decided that this boy would need to be alone to process the night's experience. Much as he hated to leave this amazing being he gently lifted himself from under the hot, heavy arm that was flung over him. He kissed the boy lightly across his forehead and felt with his cool lips a jagged scar. He had a history. And from the pent up explosion of last night, Edward guessed his history was colourful. Maybe as colourful as Edward's own. He noticed with a wry smile the mess his clothes were now in. Linen isn't what you want to wear for hot, unexpected sex and lying under the sleeping boy hadn't helped either. Arranging himself as best he could Edward prepared himself for what he was sure Emmet would call 'the walk of shame'.

The young man on reception raised his eyebrows at the dishevelled but gorgeous young man striding confidently through the hotel lobby. Edward smiled in return. He felt happy. It was not an emotion he had expected or looked for. Would he see the boy again? Edward could not imagine that he wouldn't. How could he not seek out this amazing creature? He wanted to know him, inside and out. His smile widened at the thought and the hotel doorman stood astonished at the dazzling man who swung through the doors and out into the growing dawn.

Harry stirred and felt the aching muscles of his legs with confusion and then he sat bolt upright in his bed. The room showed no sign of disturbance apart from the ripped and ragged bedding. He stretched feeling his body's gentle protest at the movement. His t shirt and shorts stuck to him and twisted around him. The room smelt of a body other than his own. The physical evidence pointed to the reality of the events of the evening but Harry couldn't begin to believe that it had all been real. It wasn't that he had had explosive, dynamic and amazing sex with the young man. After all his troubles in life issues of gender and sexuality seemed to Harry petty and trivial. But what was the young man who had aroused such strong and irrefutable emotions in him? His body had been cold and hard; Harry remembered feeling his magic rise around him at the memory. His magic reminded him of the strong feelings he had experienced in the old house. The dramatic rise of longing and sorrow. They young man of last night was the owner of those emotions. Harry had no doubt about it. But what was he? Not a wizard even though the feelings had been as strong and powerful as anything Harry had experienced. Maybe a shower would make things make more sense.

As he dressed, now refreshed and clean, Harry decided that he had to go back to the house. He considered phoning Ron or Hermione, just to hear their voices and remind himself of who he whole experience was taking on a dream like quality but as he looked at the bed and the shredded sheets he smiled to himself and decided that he liked this dream, if a dream it was.

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The house felt more welcoming than it had the day before. This, more than anything, convinced Harry of the connection he had felt between this place and his mysterious visitor the back door still had the hole he had made and was it his imagination or had the path to the back of the house been cleared? Without bothering with light this time Harry confidently found his way into the room where the music had captivated him the day before. Nothing in the room was changed. The stereo sat silent and the generator was switched off this time. Maybe the owner was gone Harry started at this thought. But surely no one would leave these things if they were his only belongings? He mused. Hunting for clues Harry sifted through the CDs. Music from different decades kept neatly in date order were packed tightly in the box. It made Harry wonder what had made him pick out the CD the day before. Had it been lying out? No he remembered prising the smooth case from among its fellows. He looked down at his hands, long and tapering fingers with short nails. He flexed them as the memories of holding down and caressing that cold hard body flooded his mind. His magic swirled out from him, feeling out into the room. Harry shook himself and called it back to him. Not now, he needed to feel some control over this situation he had stumbled into. Taking from his pocket a small notepad and pen he wrote the name of a small bar in the city and a time. He signed the note 'Harry'. He propped the note on the stereo where the owner was sure to see it. He put the paper and pen back into his pocket and left.

Edward heard the young man's approach long before he reached the path that Edward had hastily cleared on his return from the hotel. Edward turned off the stereo and the generator. He felt embarrassed as he did so, was he hiding the fact that, since he had returned that morning he had played 'Claire De Lune' over and over again, imagining the strange boy's hands on him? The boy came into the room as Edward hid in the spot he had used the day before. He watched as the delicate hands, he shuddered involuntarily at the memory of them, stroked along the spines of the CDs in the box. Edward couldn't read what the note said from his distance across the room but as soon as the room was empty he rushed to the stereo and picked up the intriguing piece of paper. He understood the dangerous implication of this arranged meeting. They would have to talk, maybe the whole magical experience would be reduced to ashes, mere physicality but his soul trembled that now he knew his name. Harry.

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	6. Chapter 6

The bar was relatively quiet. It nestled between shops and houses and its charming tables and chairs spilled out onto the street. People sat alone nursing a glass of wine taking in the night's warm air and bright starlit sky just visible between the leaning roofs. Others whispered in couples, their heads close together and obviously oblivious to the other occupants. It reminded Harry of Diagon Alley, the same old fashioned windows and the cant of the houses, crouching together. The second glass of wine he had ordered was clutched in his hand. He had drunk the first in haste, not savouring the fruity sweetness or the tang of tannin which came after. Dutch courage he thought to himself. Why Dutch? He shrugged, Hermione would know. He looked up and down the quiet street, his stomach fluttering and slightly nauseous with anticipation. He hadn't planned what he would say if the mysterious young man actually accepted his invitation. No words could really be prepared when two people had shared that intense and personal experience. Harry half hoped the man would not come, that he would be spared the dashing of his dreams as the fantasy became reality. How could any real relationship live up to Harry's feelings of the night before? It was part of the reason he had suggested meeting at night. Maybe under the cover of darkness they might withstand the cruel sharp edges of the real world and slip beautifully into the dream again.

Edward stood in the shadows. His thoughts echoing Harry's as though he could hear them. Would this meeting prove the breaking point of that magical enchantment he had been living under since he saw Harry (he tried the name on his tongue gently) in his house abandon himself to the music? He watched as Harry downed the first drink in a gulp. He smiled to himself; he wasn't the only nervous one. He could leave now and trap this glorious moment in the amber of memory. No, he had to know what would happen. What could happen? Straightening his back he stepped out of the shadows and onto the street.

Harry's magic warned him of the approach of the young man. It danced towards him, picking up his luscious scent and overpowering emotions. Before Harry could turn in his chair to face him Edward took the chair in front of him. Topaz eyes met emerald green. Despite his surprise and embarrassment Harry smiled first. Edward's replying smile was dazzling in its intensity. Wizard glamour met vampire dazzle and the spark of recognition and attraction between them caused people at other tables to look up from their glasses and conversations. A waiter appeared before either of them could speak. Edward ordered a glass of red wine, more for appearance's sake and another drink for Harry.

Edward spoke first. 'Edward Cullen,' he smiled at the beautiful dark haired boy before him. He held out his hand and Harry grasped it laughing at the gesture, made redundant by their previous meeting. 'Harry Potter'. The wine arrived and Edward watched the young man take a sip, savouring the delicate touch of his lips to the glass in contrast to his experience of the passionate kisses of the night before.

Harry cleared his throat. 'Look, this seems a bit...' he shook his head, lost for words.

'Unnecessary? Edward offered smiling.

'Well, yeah.' Admitted Harry. 'That and er... I don't really know what to say now that you're here. You're real.' He ended.

'Didn't you realise that yesterday?' Edward raised his eyebrows. 'You seemed quite certain of my ... physicality last night.' He laughed, Harry joined him and the tension broke instantly.

'Should I apologise..?' began Harry and Edward shook his head emphatically and they laughed together, relieved that they understood how each other felt.

'What are you..?' they began in unison, the soft cadences of Edward's accent over the short Englishness of Harry's voice. Harry reached out and held Edward's hand marvelling at the marble coolness. 'It doesn't matter what you are.' He said passionately, honestly. 'I'm yours.' Without realising what he was doing he pressed his mouth to the slim fingers. Edward's other hand reached over the table and tangled itself in Harry's thick shock of raven hair and pulled him closer, over the table. They stood together and Edward crushed Harry's mouth beneath his own, felt the boy's soft hands on his face, holding him there. Clapping erupted from the tables around them. They laughed at the smiling faces of the other patrons. Edward swept into a low, dramatic bow. Harry followed his lead.

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Laughing, Edward grabbed Harry's hand and led him out into the warm night. As they walked along hand in hand Harry decided not to ask Edward any questions. He wanted this moment, this feeling of unspoken trust to last. He didn't know what would happen and he didn't want to know. He made his mind up to trust this boy, trust him with his secrets and his story, with his body and his mind. Edward's mind was racing too as he held Harry's hand and guided him through the streets. He wondered if this could last. Harry obviously had a past to rival Edward's own. All Edward could do was trust. Trust the moment and the magic. Surrender to these intense feelings he had never felt before. They passed the sleeping buildings and wound their way in the direction of Edward's house. They stepped into the overgrown garden and Harry gasped. Edward had lit tiny lanterns along the path, they danced and sparkled illuminating the tangled branches and creating a magical fairyland of the neglected garden.

'Beautiful,' breathed Harry, entranced by the sight and captured by the fact that Edward had done this for him.

'Like you,' answered Edward pulling Harry in close and kissing him gently. Now it was Harry's turn to lead. Breaking the kiss he pulled Edward into the house after him. He pushed him back towards the wall and the magic exploded from inside him. Delicate fingers of brilliant light played over Edward's face, through his hair, over his lips. He closed his eyes and let Harry's magic caress him. Harry watched as Edward succumbed to his power, taking in the longing that emanated from Edward's body and flowed through the magic into Harry. He allowed the magic to unbutton Edward's shirt and saw the topaz eyes open and look into his own as the silver tendrils played over his now bare chest. Edward's skin was silver in the moonlight and the dark crimson of his nipples contrasted with the glowing light of magic teasing and touching until he stretched his head back and sighed with pleasure. Harry pushed the magic down until it played over the waistband of Edward's tailored trousers. He felt Edward's body move to accommodate the gentle touches and smiled at his power over the angelic being before him. With the magic teasing his growing arousal Edward felt Harry's hands on his chest. He opened his eyes. The young wizard was playing the magic over him like the fingers of a harp and Edward's body sang with the pleasure of it. The magic stroked gently and then more in insistently along the length of him, the hot hands held his shoulders, pinning him to the wall. Edward felt his orgasm build, felt the fingers of light caress him more firmly.

'Look at me.' Whispered Harry. 'Look at me.' He commanded, lust and demanding in his voice. Edward let go of ego, of control and looked into Harry's eyes as the magic flowed. Harry's hot hands encircled Edward's erection. Replacing the magic touching him. It drew back and whipped about them like a storm, crackling and sparkling between them.

'Harry' he gasped as he came into the boy's hands. 'God, Harry. I'm yours.'

'I know,' Harry whispered smiling, 'I know.'


	7. Chapter 7

Ok here we go. I've tried to be more explicit (for those who requested it) without just getting clinical. Hope you enjoy it!! Please review!

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They stood, leaning together for a long time. Neither wanted to break the silence. Edward's hand played through Harry's midnight black hair, teasing the tender places around his temples. Harry leaned in and kissed him gently. He was aware of the tingle on his lips he had felt the night before. It made them throb and yearn for more kisses from that cold mouth. He ran his tongue over his lips. What was that taste? Deciding it was time to move he stood upright. Edward watched him as he extricated himself from the cool embrace. Harry licked along his fingers, tasting Edward's desire there and smiled. Edward's eyes widened at the gesture. Harry laughed a low chuckle. He felt the same insistent tingle on his tongue and fingers. What was this boy? The feeling would have been uncomfortable if Harry had not been so turned on. It had come from Edward's wet mouth, from the come on his hands. He wondered idly what if would feel like to have Edward's mouth on other places. The thought made him catch his breath.

Edward saw Harry's reaction to the vampire venom and didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. He raised one of his long, pale finger to his mouth and sucked it suggestively his eyes never leaving Harry's. He heard the intake of breath and the small moan that answered his gesture. He trailed the finger, silvered with venom, along Harry's collar bone. He had wanted to do this since he had first seen him the room next door. As the venom touched Harry's skin it left a thin red welt of raised flesh. Harry moaned. Edward let his finger follow the neckline of Harry's shirt and, with his other hand, grasped the fabric and ripped down with all his strength. The fabric gave and Edward held his lover firmly against the wall and let the venom laced finger lazily circle and the rub gently over Harry's exposed nipples. Harry began to pant. His breath came in ragged gasps and his skin flushed with blood under the smooth skin.

Edward stooped to take a nipple in his mouth. Harry's body felt on fire as the venom trickled down from the soft cold lips and pooled around his navel before dripping down and staining his trousers where his erection already pushed at his jeans. Edward's mouth followed its path and Harry hardly dared to breathe as the cold lips trailed their way lower and lower. One of Edward's hands left its grip on Harry and quickly undid the buttons barring his way. Harry risked a gasp. It was as though his whole consciousness was focussed on that place between his legs. The place that he hoped Edward's mouth was moving towards. He didn't understand the strange silver liquid bathing his body in cold fire but it only made the pleasure more exquisite. Edward's silvered tongue lapped gently at him. It was all Harry could do not to grab him, force him, anything to the make the unbearable anticipation end. This felt so good. He'd never felt so good before. Then Edward's mouth was on him, moving slowly at first and then sucking more insistently. He moved in natural rhythm with Harry's involuntary thrusts. The venom slicked over him, Harry felt as though he was floating on the magic between them. Nothing else mattered. His life before this moment dwindled to insignificance in the face of the beautiful boy and the amazing moment he was experiencing. His hands moved to clutch Edward's hair. To try and preserve this feeling of joining and bliss. To stretch it out and make it last. But Edward was moving faster now, the powerful mouth and the fizzing venom combining to rush Harry on and on towards release. His voice was powerful and the magic zinged off him as he shouted Edward's name.

Edward drank him in. Hungrier for this boy than he had been for countless others whose blood he had drank dry. He felt the hands in his hair release their grasp and he stood, supporting Harry as he fell forward, his legs unsteady beneath him with the force of his orgasm.

'Wow.' Harry whispered hoarsely,' bloody hell' Edward grinned in reply and kissed him, his mouth slick with Harry's taste and tingling venom.

'Bloody hell,' he agreed.

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Edward lay Harry down on the cool wooden boards of his room. He had no bed or furniture down here. His cold arm served as a pillow for Harry's head and the raven hair spilled over his pale skin.

'Like Snow White', whispered Harry.

'What?'

'Hair as black as a raven's wing and skin as white as snow.' Harry mused smiling.

'A fairy tale,' agreed Edward. 'Is that what this is? Will you vanish at midnight?' he frowned. Harry checked his watch in the moonlight.

'Too late for that,' he whispered.

'Good.'

Harry traced a line made by the venom on his chest. 'What is this stuff?' he asked.

'Vampire venom.' Edward's answer was blunt, harsh even, but he had decided to be completely honest with Harry. It was the only way. He already knew he was in love. What was the point in avoiding the truth? Harry just nodded. What other answer could it have been? The cold skin, no breath or pulse. He couldn't have been so intimate with Edward and not suspected his true nature. Edward smiled. At last he could be himself. Harry wasn't affected by the venom, at least not in a normal way, he swallowed at the memory of the effect that venom HAD had on Harry.

'Now your turn to ask questions, 'prompted Harry.

'What are you?' whsipered Edward into Harry's neck. 'Why doesn't the venom burn you? And what's with the light show?' He gestured at the magic now lying lazily between them, as though it too was exhausted, spent.

'A wizard,' Harry replied quickly, scared to lose his nerve. 'I don't know why the venom doesn't burn me. Maybe my magic protects me? That's what this is.' He trailed his hand across the subtle shimmer which covered them and it trickled through his fingers. 'I've never... done this before. I didn't know how it would react. Was it ok?' he asked hesitantly.

'It was beautiful,' Edward breathed into the sensitive skin where the jugular beat the rhythm of Harry's heart. It began to pound faster. Edward smiled. Harry leaned further into the cold embrace.

'What happens now?' he questioned, turning his head to look into Edward's topaz eyes. Edward brushed his cool lips across Harry's half open mouth, caressed his lower lip with a tongue tingling with venom.

'Right now?' he smiled and slid his hand across the young wizard's naked body. The magic flickered between them.


	8. Chapter 8

Look I just can't leave these boys alone! Thanks for the lovely reviews so far! Hope you enjoy this one!

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Harry, through his magic, felt the warmth of the sun before it lit up the room. He lay tangled in Edward's arms, more relaxed than he'd ever been. Edward's fingers absently stroked his long hair. He was sated and tired. They had spent all night exploring each other and then, when their bodies had felt heavy and unresponsive, they had talked. Things he suspected Edward had never said to anyone and things he was certain he never had. He'd found an equal, someone powerful who he didn't have to hold back from and he could tell that Edward felt the same way. He could have stayed like this forever, but his stomach rumbled and this reminded him that Edward had not eaten either. Or fed, or whatever he called it.

'Edward?' he held the stroking hand in his and looked up into the vampire's burning eyes.

'Yes.'

'Do you need to eat?' Harry wasn't sure what the etiquette was in these circumstances and he didn't want to offend Edward.

'Yes.' Edward grinned. 'Are you offering?' To his surprise Harry seemed to consider the question seriously. Then he shook his head.

'I need to go back to the hotel, have a shower, change, breakfast.' He smiled over at his dishevelled and abandoned clothes heaped in the corner. 'I could bring you something back?' It was Edward's turn to shake his head.

'I'll have to hunt,' he said. 'Dead blood won't sustain me and I can't hunt until tonight.'

'Why?' asked Harry, 'I know you've been out at twilight. You were in my room just before sundown.' He smiled at Edward's questioning look and they both laughed.

'Watch,' said Edward and he rose and walked to the closed curtains. Harry watched the naked grace of him. Like a predator, a mountain lion, he prowled rather than walked. A shiver ran through Harry reminding him that maybe his body didn't need food just yet. Then his thoughts fell silent as Edward swept back the heavy curtain and the glorious sunlight poured through the window. Every atom of Edward's skin scintillated and shone in the light. He was a marvellous, twinkling statue of a god. When he turned to smile at him Harry thought he might just die at the splendour of this gorgeous, ethereal being before him. He reached out with his hand and the magic flowed effortlessly to Edward. Like God and Adam they stood joined by the bright gold streaks of magic between them. Harry curved his hand and the magic obeyed his will caressing the diamond skin. He stared as Edward, majestic and beautiful beyond reason, hardened under his magic's touch.

'Aahhh,' sighed Edward stretching out in the sun like a lion made of diamonds. Harry smiled to himself. This feeling of power he had over Edward was addictive. That this glorious being was bent to his will, held in his magic, enthralled and enchanted him. With a gentle push the magic pushed Edward back down onto the floor. Harry stood over him, now just as excited and aroused as his captive vampire. The magic was still flowing over and around Edward and the play of light over the diamond skin was breath taking. Harry knelt and ran his hand down the shimmering body. Whereas before Harry had used his magic to touch and caress Edward while he held him with his hand this time the magic held Edward lovingly but firmly as Harry took advantage of his helpless position.

'You're mine,' he whispered into a glittering whorl of Edward's ear. 'Aren't you?

'Yessss,' the hiss escaped from Edward's teeth as Harry's mouth ran a hot trail down his stomach following the smooth path beyond his navel.

'Then you'll just have to show me,' whispered Harry as he slowly licked and sucked at Edward's glittering body. How strange, he thought to himself, I've always thought the penis the least beautiful part of a body but even in this Edward was astonishing. Cold, hard and sparkling it felt so alive in his mouth. So responsive to the movements of his tongue. He allowed the magic to free one of Edward's hands and it twined in his hair, pulling and smarting. He pulled away and the air around them punctured with tiny purple spirals as Harry's magic held back the orgasm threatening to burst from Edward's prone body. Edward twisted in frustration and he opened his eyes to see Harry smiling down at him.

'Are you going to show me that you're mine?' he teased. Edward's answer was rough and hoarse in his throat.

'Yes.'

'Then touch me Edward.' The glistening hand trailed along his leg and ran a cool course across Harry's erection. The hand closed over him and was still. Harry raised an eyebrow. Edward smiled a lazy smile, heavy with lust and began to gently move his hand back and forth. Harry felt the languid touch and thought he might explode with longing. He had to do something, something to make Edward know that this was real, that he belonged to Harry, that they belonged to each other. Edward continued to smile as Harry gently pushed at his knees until the vampire lay splayed underneath him. The twinkling skin invited and entranced him. The magic swirled around Edward's hand and guided it back to the position held by its twin, at the side of Edward's head. He lay pinned beneath the young wizard like some rare, jewelled butterfly. His eyes widened as he realised what Harry was going to do.

The magic slicked over them, slippery and dripping over Edward's open body. Looking more confident than he felt and using the lubrication of the magic Harry pushed himself into Edward's waiting body. Gently at first and then inch by inch until he penetrated him utterly. The magic held Edward's hands but he bucked and writhed beneath the magic and Harry wondered if he had hurt his lover. Then Edward's eyes opened and locked onto Harry's gaze. And then he smiled as though the whole thing had been his idea. Harry almost laughed as he rode again into Edward's body, harder this time, less careful than before. The wave of pleasure drove them both on and, in his lust, Harry forgot the magic holding Edward and Edward's hands were freed and they grabbed Harry and urged him deeper, harder. Needing little encouragement Harry moved so that his thrusts caused friction against Edward's hard length. They moaned and hissed together. Harry's quiet exclamations and Edward's growling intermingling like their bodies. All things seemed to stop still. The air motes dancing in the sunlight froze. The magic fell around them like a veil and for a brief glorious moment they were one being. One heart pounded loudly in their ears. One fused body moving in divine union. Like a force of nature their orgasm broke over them.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry, no smut this time! But I really did think Harry would want to tell his mates! Please review. You've been kind so far!!

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Harry made his way back to his hotel through the now crowded streets and smiled at the sun on his face, the busy passers passersby, the cars honking and grumbling along the narrow cobbled streets, the world. Everyone could see the boy was in love. Old ladies remembering their youth nodded their heads knowingly at him and young mothers smiled and hoped their sons would someday smile like that.

He had left Edward, promising to be back as soon as he had cleaned and fed himself. He body ached and his mind buzzed from the stimulation he had felt, physically and mentally. And the lack of sleep. He'd decided to magic it his fatigue away. He couldn't bear the thought that he would waste whole hours he could be spending with Edward. The vampire had told him he could not sleep and so Harry decided he wouldn't either. And thinking of magic had given Harry his great idea. He'd need to plan some things but it should be easier than some of the things he'd had to do in his life. And it would give Edward so much pleasure. That felt like Harry's reason to live right now.

Back in the hotel room he booted up his laptop and went for a shower. He was reluctant to clean away the evidence of the hours he had spent with Edward, frightened that Edward too might be gone when he returned to the house. This was trust, Harry reminded himself, wincing slightly as he bent to wash. Trust would be easy if there was no fear that the other person might leave you.

He emerged from the shower towelling his hair to hear the familiar popping beep of the instant messaging service he used. Wrapping a towel around his midriff he sat on the vanity stool and saw the worried faces of Ron and Hermione crowding the small rectangle of the screen. He pressed a button and watched as both expressions blossomed into relief.

'Harry!' Hermione shrieked, nearly perforating Harry's eardrum.' Merlin's beard! We were so worried about you! What have you been doing?' beside her Ron gave her a sideways glance.

'Yeah Harry,' he grumbled.' We've been worried sick mate.'

'Sorry,' Harry really was, he'd forgotten all about checking in with his closest friends. He'd been...occupied.

'Are you ok? You look strange, are you ill?' quizzed Hermione, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. Harry smiled broadly.

'You've not been on the Mirthful Mushrooms have you?' Ron blurted out quickly, 'because they take ages for the effect to wear off. Fred and George had some in the house last week and mum accidentally put them in the bolognaise and we couldn't stop giggling for days.' He looked genuinely concerned.

'No, No,' Harry assured him. 'I'm fine,' he answered. 'Actually, better than fine. Great. I...'

'You look bloody smug anyway,' laughed Ron. 'What's going on Harry? Come on, the suspense is killing us.' Harry laughed and tried to think of how to explain. Before he could speak Hermione butted in.

'Have you met someone?' Then, as Harry began to smile again, honestly his face was beginning to ache from all the smiling he'd done in the last twelve hours, she shrieked. 'Ooh good grief you HAVE! Haven't you?' she added warily.

'Yes.' Harry grinned so hard he though his head might split open but he couldn't help it.

'Merlin's balls Potter! Yyou don't hang about do you?' boomed Ron laughing. 'Go on, who is she? Is she a muggle? Italian?' He laughed heartily; glad his friend's disappearance was something good for a change.

'Ah,' Harry paused, uncertain of what to say next. 'HE's called Edward.' He watched Ron's mouth drop open, Hermione glancing towards him twisted her mouth into a proud little smile.

'Go on,' she encouraged

'And he's a vampire.' Harry rushed out in relief.

'Wow,' breathed Hermione. Ron was still sitting there, mouth open. 'What's that like? What's he like Harry?'

'He's beautiful Hermione.' Harry looked into Hermione's eyes trying to convey all he felt for Edward. 'Beautiful and kind and powerful and bloody gorgeous.' Hermione laughed, throwing her head back, clearly genuinely happy for her friend. Ron still had his mouth open. 'Ron?' whispered Harry, 'are we ok?'

Ron shook himself. 'Yeah, er course, course. A bloke? Crikey.' Ron looked nervous.' Erm Harry?'

'Yes Ron.' Harry knew what was coming.

'Have you... I mean did you always... look, blokes, right, did you...' he trailed off frustrated. He sent a panicked look to Hermione who, as usual, was about to help Ron out when Harry interrupted.

'No Ron, we're just mates. It's fine.' He smiled. Ron sighed and then realised his relief might offend Harry.

'Er, no offence,' he rushed, 'I mean you're a handsome chap and all that Harry and I won't say that I've not...' he trailed off eyes wide now like a panicked deer, 'what I'm saying is...right. Good then.'

They all laughed together. It felt good to be there with them, if only through cyberspace. Harry was glad he'd shared this with them. It made it more real somehow.

'Harry it looks like you'd better go and sleep,' asserted Hermione, back in her mother role. 'You look tired out. Harry could have sworn she winked when she said this. He nodded dumbly.

'Tired? But it's only eight in the morning there isn't it? What have you been doing? Up all night...' Ron's eyes widened as he realised what Harry probably HAD been up all night doing. 'Oh. Yeah. Right. Sleep. Bloody hell Potter.' He shook his head and smiled. Harry thought that if Ron had been in the room he would have given him a friendly punch on the arm.

'I'm thinking of just using magic to stay awake a bit longer,' Harry explained shaking his head. 'There's something I want to do and it has to be done this morning.' Ron began to splutter. 'Not THAT Ron.' Harry laughed, 'although...'

'Stop it!' laughed Hermione, hitting Ron on the back to stop his choking. 'That's just mean Harry.'

'Yeah, sorry I know.' Harry smiled. 'Just too tempting. But, seriously now, tell me something. Can I keep two powerful magics running at once do you think? Even without the sleep?'

Hermione was in her element. 'Well, I suppose it's possible,' she mused. 'Maybe you could use something to power one of the spells?' Harry didn't interrupt, he knew she was thinking. 'Harry? Is it very sunny there?' she asked suddenly.

'Yes, glorious,' answered Harry thinking of the sunlight playing over Edward's glistening body. He shifted in his seat. 'Why?' he prompted.

'Because you could use the sun energy to power along one spell while you kept the other going.' She answered clearly pleased with her plan. Harry kissed the laptop screen.

'Hermione you're a gem. Ron you're...' Harry waggled an eyebrow, Ron spluttered again and Hermione shrieked. 'Now stop it. Both of you. Love you Harry, speak to you soon! Have fun!'

'Oh I will' smiled Harry.

'Have fun,' Ron managed weakly.


	10. Chapter 10

Edward had washed in the cold water of the sink in the kitchen, he didn't feel the chill and he was wondering whether he should bother putting on some clothes, Harry would only rip them off again he hoped, smiling. His mind was racing. He couldn't believe something as good as Harry's love had happened to him. He just wasn't that lucky. He shook his head to try to clear the negativity and the sparkles from his skin glittered the room. He wouldn't normally be in this room during the day. He tended to avoid situations that reminded him of his difference to mortals but Harry had changed that. He was starting to teach Edward that his body was beautiful, that Edward was beautiful. Harry loved him and Harry was different too. He shook his head again and laughed to hear himself think like a lovesick girl. But if this was a sickness then he wasn't going to seek out a cure.

Harry had been so excited when he had left earlier. After the dramatic turn their lovemaking had taken they had both of them had needed some time to think. Not to regret, Harry had assured Edward when he had voiced this concern, but just to savour the truth of their relationship. They loved each other equally and this was going to last. Edwards's cheeks hurt from grinning.

Edward wondered what he was going to say to Alice. Surely his sister had seen them together in her visions? Had she seen everything that had passed between them? Had she seen her brother surrender himself to this young wizard? The way Edward had been utterly taken by Harry? If he could have blushed Edward would have done he was sure. But then there was nothing shameful in the things he and Harry had done together, they were in love. They'd talked for hours in the night, between the exploring of each other's bodies. Harry possessed Edward inside and out, had penetrated his body and his soul. He'd told him all about his family and their lifestyle, Carlisle and the decisions he'd made for his family. He'd told him about Bella and Harry had listened, nodding and encouraging the hard words coming from Edward's heart. Harry hadn't been jealous at all, Edward had searched his face carefully for any sign but Harry had explained that he'd decided to trust Edward completely. This, explained Harry tenderly as he stoked Edward's shining skin, meant that he couldn't be jealous of Edward's past. Harry was his future. Edward smiled again at this thought. He spoke of his family and Edward realised how alike they were, both orphans, both different from others, special. It had been hard to listen to the awful things that Harry had been through and at first his muscles had tensed under the glittering skin with the urge to hurt those who had made his beloved's life so difficult in his early years. Harry had smiled at this and hugged Edward to him.

'You don't need to defend me,' he had whispered into Edward's ear. 'I can look after myself, remember?' The magic had swirled from his hands, surrounding Edward in delicious tingles. That had been the end of the talking for a while.

'Now that's just not fair!' Edward jumped at the sound of Harry's voice behind him. Harry was leaning against the door frame, eyeing appreciatively his view of the naked Edward. How had Edward not heard Harry's approach? Harry saw the question in his eyes and held up his wand in answer. 'I cheated, 'he grinned.

'What's not fair?' smiled Edward slowly turning to face Harry. He knew what he was doing to the young wizard, the flush colouring his delicate skin was intoxicating. Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

'No time for this. Damn.' He swore as he took a long look at the beautiful young man obviously happy to see him. 'Come on, get dressed, I've something to show you.' Reluctantly Edward grabbed some clothes and followed Harry to the back door. 'Stand right there,' Harry commanded pointing to a place where the dust motes danced in a shaft of brilliant sunshine. Edward did as he commanded never losing Harry's gaze. If this was some new experience, some new challenge in their relationship he was determined to face it head on. 'Look at you,' Harry breathed mesmerised by something on Edward's skin. 'Just look.' And Edward looked and saw that his skin no longer glittered. His body looked like Harry's, smooth and young, yes but without the tell tale sparkle that had kept him so long indoors. He gaped.

'My god. How did you...? What did you...?' for answer Harry held the wand aloft again.

'It's my gift to you.' He kissed Edward's cool lips passionately. 'Want to go for a walk?' Edward nodded mutely. Harry took his hand and led him outside into the brilliant sunshine. 'Take these,' he passed Edward a pair of sunglasses and put on his own. 'I didn't think you'd own any.' He said smiling at the astonishment on Edward's face. Edward turned to him.

'Stop.' He put out his hand and halted Harry in his steps. He turned the wizard to face him. 'Thank you,' he whispered, 'you have no idea how long I've...' words failed him. Tears splashed rivers down from his eyes and Harry collected them with his fingers and kissed the cold wet cheeks.

'I can imagine,' he whispered into Edward's mouth as he kissed him. 'You don't ever need to be in the dark anymore. I'm here now.' He took Edward's hand and strode down the path to the waiting world of the day.

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Harry didn't know what to do first. They went back to the little bar where they had met only the night before. Edward was awed by the fact that his life had changed in so short a time. This young man had turned everything around, upside down and on its head. He loved him for it. As Harry drank some sparkling water he told Edward about his conversations with Hermione and Ron. Edward had laughed at the obvious pleasure Harry had in telling his friends about this new adventure he was having. It made Edward proud that he was the source of Harry's happiness. He couldn't take his eyes off his skin and he turned his hands this way and that trying to catch some sign that the sparkle was returning and it was time to go back.

'It won't happen,' Harry explained,' I've harnessed some of the sun's energy to keep the charm working. As long as it's sunny, you're safe.' He smiled, obviously pleased with himself. Edward returned the smile.

'Is it permanent?' he asked.

'No, just say the word and my gorgeous, glittering boyfriend is back.' Harry grinned. Boyfriend, thought Edward, sounded good coming from Harry's lips. He kissed them, hard and passionately.

'I can't believe you're real.' He whispered.

'Let's find somewhere secluded and I'll show you how real I am.' Smouldered Harry in return.

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Even in the shelter of the great tree Edward could not help but marvel over the change Harry had wrought over his body. He looked truly mortal, if a little pale. I wonder if I'll tan? He mused to himself. How he would have loved for Alice to see him tanned. He chuckled quietly at the thought.

'What?' asked Harry from where he lay against Edward's cold, hard body. 'Everything ok?'

'Everything's wonderful.' Edward said in a confident voice. 'But...'

'What?' Harry turned frowning, what was wrong? Edward took advantage of his confusion to grab Harry and rolled on top of him. His vampire strength easily conquered the young wizard. In an instant response Harry's magic began to seep out from his body, creating tendrils to weave around his lover's body.

'No.' Edward's voice was commanding. 'No magic this time. Let me be in charge.' Harry relaxed smiling and lay back with his arms behind his head.

'No problem.' He grinned at the beautiful young man sitting astride his legs. Edward began by wetting his lips with venom. He smiled down at Harry. This is what vampire prey must feel like the wizard thought as he saw the hot determination in the vampire's eyes. The hunger.

Effortlessly pinning Harry's arms above his head Edward lazily explored Harry's body with his free hand. Harry was already hard and he twisted in Edward's grasp as the vampire's cold hand settle near to the revealing bulge in his jeans. Harry's breath was coming in short, hard gasps and Edward smiled at the effect he was having on the boy. Even more alluring, he thought to himself, as this was just the effect Harry had on him.

'What do you want Harry?' he growled quietly into the ear of the trembling boy. Harry's eyes opened wide, this was a turnabout in the power of the relationship.

'You,' he whispered looking into Edward's eyes, noticing the red tinge that coloured them now.

'Not good enough,' growled Edward again, more menacing now. 'Be specific.' Harry swallowed but didn't answer. When Edward saw that Harry needed more encouragement he moved his hand untill just one finger touched the tightening bulge in Harry's trousers. Harry writhed involuntarily; trying to wriggle so Edward's hand was fully on him. It was no good, the vampire was too strong. He gritted his teet and moaned. Edward smiled a predator's smile. It made Harry wonder if he played with his food. He cleared his throat, feeling torn between his desire for Edward and his pride. He decided there was no competition.

'Touch me Edward,' he whispered gruffly, 'please,' he added hoping this would be enough. Edward smiled and nodded. His hand swept over Harry's erection, the feeling so pleasurable it was almost painful. Harry, confined by the tight denim, struggled to keep a grip on himself.

'Let go,' encouraged Edward, 'just give yourself over. Lie perfectly still,' he grinned wickedly. Harry's response was to relax in the vampire's grip. The movement of the cold hand became more and more insistent and Harry was nearer and nearer to orgasm when Edward stopped. Harry began to moan but Edward's hand over his mouth silenced him.

'Now might be time for magic!' he hissed as Harry noticed the direction of Edward's gaze. An elderly couple were picking their way amongst the trees. The old lady pushed a pram, proud grandparents on their day out. For a moment Harry's mind fluttered like a butterfly in a jar. The pressure from his body and the closeness he had felt to release clouded his mind. Then he gathered the magic over them like a blanket, borrowing the magic he had learnt from the cloak of invisibility. As the couple passed by Edward undid Harry's trousers and released the pressure on his longing body. Harry sighed in relief then gasped as Edward's teeth took hold of the rim of his shorts and ripped the fabric. Not giving Harry time to respond Edward took the length of him in his cold, tingling mouth. The powerful muscles of Edward's jaw, used to biting through flesh and bone to draw blood, now worked Harry's body into frenzy. He moved slowly at first feeling the pressure in Harry building. The boy lay as still as he could, he was behaving Edward's mind smiled, but even so the small jerks and thrusts betrayed the pleasure building inside him.

Edward stopped. He moved away from Harry, the cold air assaulting the flesh now burning with vampire venom and human need. He heard Harry swear under his breath. Edward's lips were at his ear.

'What do you want Harry?' he murmured, licking the skin where the blood beat wildly.

'Oh god.' Harry gasped out, his body still bucking beneath Edward. 'I want your mouth Edward.' Then he hurried on, worried this might not be enough to satisfy the dominating vampire. 'On me Edward, I want your mouth on me. Please, please.' He caught the edge of the vampire's grin as he flashed from his side, settling himself between Harry's legs. In a swift movement he swallowed Harry and then held very still. He put his hands beneath his lover, lifting his lower body up off the ground, helpless. Harry tried to move but Edward had other ideas. Using his own strength he moved Harry back and forth, taking control from the young wizard. Harry felt the unbearable pressure, the uncontrollable urge to give all of himself to Edward. He let go of himself into the vampire's hands. His orgasm rose towards him, he arched back into Edward's hands and came.


	11. Chapter 11

Edward convinced Harry to sleep, at least for some of the night. He badly needed to hunt now after so much expended energy and Harry needed to sleep, no matter how he protested that the magic could sustain him. As he looked back at the house which had once felt like a monk's cell and saw Harry's strong magic hover around it, a sentinel against any harm, he smiled. It had all changed. He was still reeling from his day in the sun. Before he left he decided to call home. Squaring his shoulders he picked out the keys of his phone. It didn't get much chance to ring when an exuberant voice shouted down the line.

'Edward!' Alice squeaked and he could imagine her bouncing up and down. 'Oh my god Edward! What ARE you doing?!' her voice, shocked and happy told him this was a rhetorical question.

'Hi Alice,' he answered but that was all he got to say before excited Alice carried on speaking.

'You were outside in the daytime! In the sun! Doing...well doing that boy.' Edward laughed.

'You got me,' he laughed again. 'Yep that was me.'

'Who is he? What is he? Does he love you? It looks like he loves you. Oh my god Edward I'm coming right over on the next flight. You can not have all this fun to yourself. No sir...' Alice would have continued her monologue if Edward hadn't hushed her to silence.

'No Alice,' he said firmly and heard her sigh of frustration. 'I'll tell you what you want to know now and then you've got to leave us in peace, at least for a while.' He pleaded.

'Us? Wow Edward, you're part of an 'us'!' Alice breathed. 'You sound like Jasper and I. You sound happy. It's soooo good to hear that after all this time. Now, answers please!'

Edward laughed again and told Alice what she needed to know; Harry's name and his background in brief and some of what she wanted to know; no it hadn't hurt that much, yes it was amazing, yes magic made it more amazing. Alice sighed happily at the vicarious pleasure she was taking in her brother's love life. Now he had a love life.

'I nearly spilled the beans when I had that vision of you this morning, in front of the window in the sunshine.' She gasped out. Edward could imagine her spiky hair bouncing around as she expressed herself. Then he realised what she had seen.

'Right, yes. Sorry,' he muttered embarrassed.

'Don't be,' she answered quickly. 'Just, I was playing outside with Emmet and I'm sure he suspects something. I couldn't hide my...' she paused for the word, 'reaction, quickly enough.' Edward hissed. God, this was awkward.

'Sorry,' he muttered again.

'Don't worry,' Alice answered brightly. There was a voice in the background. 'Yes, it's Edward. Edward? Jasper wants a word.'

'Hi Jasper,' Edward smiled at the thought of his 'brother' all those miles away.

'Hi Edward,' came the breezy reply, 'just wanted to thank you for this morning...Alice was on fire...OW!' there was a struggle on the end of the line. Edward grinned to himself and then cringed as he thought about what Jasper had said. Oh dear. This was complicated.

'Sorry about that Edward,' came Alice's voice again, 'ignore him. He has no idea what he's talking about.' It sounded like Jasper had protested because there was a crash and someone shouted 'ow' again.

'Look I'm sorry you saw all that Alice. I didn't really think at the time...' Edward trailed off and he heard Alice giggle.

'It's ok, I've decided that next time I see you and it looks like you're going to end up...' Edward could tell that Alice was trying to find a suitable adjective; she giggled '...naked, then I won't look anymore. Or I'll try not to anyway.' She added in a rush.

'Thank you Alice. I really appreciate your discretion on this. If things keep on going so well then I'll tell the others soon enough. Tell Jasper not to blab eh?'

'He won't.' Alice was firm. From the background Edward heard Jasper shout, 'I know when I'm on to a good thing. Ow!' Edward laughed now.

'Look Alice I have to go and hunt, I'll speak to you soon ok? I love you.'

'Love you too.' Alice was serious now. 'Don't leave it too long to be in touch or I might just have to peek!'

'Alice,' Edward growled the half serious warning in his throat.

'Bye!!' she hung up. Edward looked at his phone and laughed out loud.

With that settled he ran stealthily into the night, he wasn't sure what prey was out there but he was ravenous.

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Harry woke with a start. Something cold and smooth was moving along the side of his leg, under the sheets and over the make shift mattress he'd thrown together. His first thought was 'snake' and he was about to chance a whisper in Parseltongue when it occurred to him that this particular snake seemed to have an agenda. He grinned under the covers and pretended to be still asleep.

Edward heard Harry's heart pounding, knew he was awake, and decided to play along with the game. His hand skimmed the hem of Harry's boxers and then moved underneath. Harry held his breath and Edward wanted to laugh. So engrossed was he in the game that he didn't notice Harry's magic curling around him until it touched his body in an echo of what his own hand was doing to Harry. Edward leaned back to give the silver fingers more room to move about him. The magic stroked fire into him, releasing the tension which had built during his hunt, drawing to the surface the feelings of the predator he had allowed himself to be for those brief hours while Harry slept. He growled in his throat and in response the magic held him down and toyed with his nipples conjuring from him a groan of pleasure. Edward lay suspended in this bliss. The thinking, rational man he had become over the years since his turning lay dormant in him now. Harry's magic had awaked the newly fed vampire self that Edward hid from everyone, including himself. Venom dripped from his open mouth as he took a breath he didn't need. It was a reaction, a reaction of the animal inside him which had torn and feasted on the creatures who had been unfortunate enough to cross his path that night. Edward struggled against the rise of this beast within him. He opened his eyes to find Harry looking down at him.

'Don't.' He fought to speak, to be coherent, a man again.

'I want to see it all Edward,' was all that Harry said. Edward's body was hard with desire, Harry's magic reached beneath the veneer of civility and pulled at his core. The magic flared from Harry now, terrifying and beautiful. It rushed over the stricken vampire and with a roar Edward let go of his carefully cultivated mask to the creature beneath, that fed on living blood and killed to survive. Harry showed no fear, even though a part of him knew that, if he let go of Edward now, if the magic slipped though his grasp, the vampire would dip that beautiful mouth to his neck and rip out his throat. He reached out with his hand and grabbed Edward's hair, he ran his fiery lips down his captive's neck and looked into his eyes while he stroked with long, confident strokes at Edward's erection. Lust and hunger burned in those eyes. Harry saw his own fire reflected in them. The killer he too could have become. As Edward's need grew Harry continued to hold him with his eyes, the magic snaking, teasing around the vampire's furious, captive body. Shudders ran through Edward and Harry felt the release of Edward's self loathing.; the release of the final barrier between him and his vampire lover. The magic swelled and then softened over them. Edward's eyes regained their sanity and he began to cry. Harry held him tightly and stroked his hair.


	12. Chapter 12

Ok, tres short, I'm sorry but I need to bridge. Please review, you've been so kind so far!

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Edward sat on the cold wooden floor of the room he now shared with Harry. The cold didn't bother him and he looked down as the small hairs on his skin caught the morning sun. No sparkle, no telling sign of his immortality. Harry had been right about his spell lasting as long as the sun continued to shine. Edward smiled, happy for the first time since those first days with Bella, before it had all got complicated and the truth became more and more apparent. He and Bella had different needs. How could he have ever expected her to understand him? She was a child after, all in comparison to his years in the world. As if in response to his thought Harry shifted in his sleep beside him. His sleep - warm leg settled next to Edward's long, cold limb. Harry was different; Edward knew that, Harry had told him all there was to tell about his life before Edward. It was these experiences that made Harry, mused Edward, watching the boy with affection. They'd both experienced so much, maybe this was why they knew they could trust each other. They had each found an equal.

Harry yawned widely. Through sleepy eyes he looked up at Edward, marvelling at the way the sun lit up his hair like a halo, even without the vampire sparkle Edward looked like an angel. Harry smiled to himself. His heart beat must have increased because Edward turned to look at him.

'When did I fall asleep?' asked Harry running his hands through his black hair.

'After the second time.' Edward smiled warmly 'I thought you needed the rest. Keep your energy up.' He chuckled softly.

'I'm starving!' announced Harry sitting up and throwing back the duvet.

'Mmm, me too.' Edward's grin was wicked as he leant in to kiss Harry hungrily with his cold lips. 'Come on, I'll buy you breakfast.' He loped to where his clothes were neatly folded and Harry's were thrown carelessly. Harry got up, stretching and yawning.

'Great, and then we can come back and deal with the other sort of hungry.' He winked.

Stopping in the doorway for a long kiss, Harry pulled Edward against him, magic swirled around them.

'Can breakfast wait?' murmured Edward.

'Nope,' Harry pushed Edward away playfully. 'Build up your appetite!' he grinned. Edward growled in his throat and followed him out into the sunshine. Behind them the house fell silent and still. Still apart from a delicately booted foot which stepped out from a room upstairs. White hands held up a wide petticoat and skirt as the boots descended carefully the rotting staircase.


	13. Chapter 13

Slim, pale fingers trail over Edward's CD cases. The dark eyes don't bother with the titles; their owner is more interested in the feelings that surround the music. The fingers touch at Edward's only belongings in the world. They intrude, they violate. Harry's note is turned over and scrutinised. A pointed boot kicks at discarded clothes strewn across the floor and a delicate nose wrinkles at the smell that rises up. Long skirts sweep the floor. Their owner knows she will be detected; it is part of her plan after all. Part of the great work she has been sent to do. She is not nervous that the boys will return, she knows she would have nothing to fear even from a vampire as old as Edward or a wizard as powerful as Harry. She fears nothing but the creature that has sent her here. Remembering this she hastens to find the paper in her bag. As she writes she thinks about what she has witnessed between the vampire and the wizard. She has seen their intimacy, their vulnerability. In a way she envies them, for her life has never been allowed to be so free. She has watched as they have explored each other, they remind her of her own lost beloved. The love she was never to truly own. Their passion has awakened in her the passion she lost many years ago. Sometimes she wakes from her captive existence and feels his lips upon hers.

'Jonathon.' She whispers, a crimson tear splashes her cheek. She brushes it away hastily. She will not be forgiven this weakness. She must end this idyll, this honeymoon. And part of her dies to know it. Hurriedly she leaves the note as she has been commanded. She takes the stairs wearily, feeling her years pull about her.

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'Now, what was it you were promising before we left?' Edward grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him into his arms. He felt Harry's magic rising around them and knew that soon he would be helpless in the young wizard's power. He meant to make the most of this moment. He felt Harry go limp as he pinned him to the wall. Holding the raven hair he moved until he towered over the smaller body. He breathed deeply in the scent of his lover, knowing it would inflame his passion further and wanting to abandon himself to pleasure. There it was, salt and sweetness, Harry always smelt so delicious, so edible. Edward smiled into Harry's throat. There was another scent here, in the room. Faded roses and old blood. Edward stiffened, aware that someone had been here. Then Harry moaned against Edward's ear and he growled in reply and was once again lost in his lust for the boy wizard.

Harry's scent was as intoxicating as it had been the first day, when he had watched his reaction to the music, watched him touch himself. The idea made Edward shudder with longing and he felt himself go hard. Harry felt it to, pressed close the Edward as he was and he moved against the cold, hard body, building the desire in Edward's body. Harry's hand crept between them, his hand cupping Edward's erection and he moved it in along, languorous motion. From Harry's breathing Edward could tell that that same hand was trapped between them both, bringing them both nearer and nearer to orgasm. He ground hard against the hand and heard Harry's sharp intake of breath as the friction increased. Harry felt the struggle for dominance and decided, this time, to surrender to his vampire lover.

'Do you want me Harry?' Edward hissed into Harry's ear, his hand brushing Harry's away and replacing its movements with its own assured caress.

'Yes,' murmured Harry in return. 'God, I want you Edward.' Edward held his hand between their faces now, the sudden absence of his warmth causing Harry to moan and Edward to grin. His topaz eyes never left Harry's as he slowly, torturously licked along his long fingers until they were slick with silvered venom. Harry was mesmerised, captured in Edward's predator's stare. He wished the hand was touching him, he could almost feel the delicious sting of the venom on his inflamed flesh. He moaned again, aware how needy he sounded and just not caring. Edward chuckled and slowly drew his hand the length of their bodies. His other hand held Harry's head, making him watch the slow progression down their bodies. He stopped to touch himself and Harry moaned again. Pleased with this response Edward became bolder. He stroked the length of his own erection, never allowing Harry's gaze to move. Harry watched Edward touch himself. His magic curled inside him, held in check for now but tiny slivers of light waved gently from Harry's body, picking up on Edward's arousal and pleasure.

'Show me Harry,' Edward's voice sounded husky with desire. 'Show me.' It was a moment or two till Harry could move, he longed for the touch of that marble hand on his own aching flash. With clumsy fingers he fumbled at the zip on his jeans. Finally unfastening them and hastily moving the fabric of his shorts. The sudden rush of blood unbalanced him and it was Edward's cold grip on his shoulder that steadied him. 'Touch yourself for me Harry.' Blindly, obedient through his desire for Edward, Harry obeyed. He imagined his hand belonged to Edward and he touched himself. Slowly and confidently in the way he wanted Edward's hand to touch him. He looked at Edward and the look of lust on his lover's face encouraged him further. Breathing heavily now, feeling closer and closer to orgasm he imagine Edward's cool hand in the place of his own. In a rush Edward dropped to his knees in front of Harry. Harry was moving involuntarily now. His hand matching the movement of his hips. He looked down; the sight of the powerful, beautiful vampire kneeling before him, his cold red lips hovering above his sensitive tortured flesh was too much for him. Edward knew that he was too close to release to stop. Using all his strength he pinned Harry's hands back against the wall. The wizard twisted in his grasp, his magic flaring out, his body straining, reaching for fulfilment. Delicate skin thrilled with stinging touch of venom as Edward's lips enclosed Harry in a silken kiss. No control now, Harry's magic flashed out, freeing his hands from Edward's grip and he rode himself, hard into the vampire's mouth. Hands clutching his hair, his hoarse whisper encouraged Edward to take all of him, not to leave a drop.

From the stairs another pair of eyes enviously watched how the two bodies merged together. They swept across the kneeling, hungry vampire and the panting, arching lover, oblivious in their passion.


	14. Chapter 14

For Megan, who'll know just the CD I mean!! Please review!

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It was Edward who found the note. Harry had wanted to listen to some music and had asked the vampire what he should play; muggle music had never really been on Harry's agenda. Before Hogwarts he hadn't had the money to spend and at Hogwarts there hadn't been any time for buying CDs. Edward had a few albums in mind and decided to find them while Harry went out to buy some food for his evening meal. Edward enjoyed the experience of mingling with the warm blooded locals and had offered to go but he sensed that Harry wanted some time alone. He smiled to himself, thinking how comfortable he was with the boy wizard. He hadn't worried about Harry's desire to be alone. Alone time meant they could enjoy being together so much more. And anyway they HAD to have something to talk about sometimes. He grinned

At first, Edward thought the note was the one Harry had left for him on their first night together, first official night he corrected himself smiling again. Then he realised that that note was still carefully placed between the pages of the book he was reading, he'd read it again only this morning. Anyway this paper was much too thick and luxuriant and the handwriting too ornate and spidery. Surprised that the outside of the paper bore both their names he was just unfolding the paper when Harry came through the door carrying two grocery bags. He grinned.

'Did you find us some music?' he asked, putting down the bags. 'Try not to pick something connected to old girlfriends.' He rolled his eyes at Edward. But Edward was frozen, the note open in his hand. His eyes, unseeing, staring down. 'What?' Harry asked, alarmed by his lover's reaction. 'What's that?'

'Nothing.' Edward hastily tucked the paper into his trouser pocket. Harry scowled.

'We're not doing that,' he said forcefully holding out his hand for the note.' We're never doing that.' His green eyes bored into Edward's. Sheepishly Edward nodded.

'You're right,' he admitted, 'an old habit to break.'

'No secrets, ever.' Harry kissed him passionately. Cold lips crushed against his soft mouth.

'No secrets.' Edward agreed pulling the paper from his pocket and handing it to Harry. He watched Harry open and scan the note. He looked questioningly at Edward.

'Someone wants to meet us?' he questioned, as though Edward would know more. Edward nodded mutely. 'Who knows we're here? Who knows us?' he amended the question. Edward shrugged. 'Why were you going to hide this?' Harry's eyes narrowed.

'It's written by a vampire,' Edward explained and carried on as he saw Harry's next question forming in the boy's frown. 'That style of writing hasn't been taught in schools for a hundred years at least,' he continued,' and the paper itself smells of an old one. It's a scent I caught in this room last night,' he smiled, 'but then you distracted me.' Harry smiled in reply, curling his hand around Edward's and his magic, sensing his concern, curled around them both like a protecting hand.

What does it smell like?' he looked up into Edward's eyes and suddenly realised how much older than him Edward was, even though they looked the same age.

'Roses. Old blood.' Edward replied taking the note from Harry and turning it over in his own hands. 'Vampires always smell of blood. The older the vampire, the older the smell. It's not something you'd notice.' He smiled at Harry's wrinkled nose as he sniffed at Edward's shoulder. 'Only a predator would pick up this scent.' He frowned suddenly. 'You're second question was the right one Harry, who knows us? Would you have been able to sense someone watching us Harry? Would your magic have picked it up?'

'Yes, I think so,' Harry frowned, 'unless they were using magic themselves to hide from me. They'd have to do that deliberately, it's not something a wizard can do by accident. Even distracted,' he grinned at Edward, 'I'd have known they were there.'

'An old vampire using magic?' Edward's eyebrows knitted together. 'Can you think of anyone or anything that might fit that bill?' Harry shook his head. 'Me neither. I don't like that.'

'So, what do we do?' Harry looked at the note and then back at Edward. 'I think we should meet them. They know about us and now we know about them. They're an old vampire who can use magic. Well, so are we.' He smiled at Edward.' And there's two of us.' Edward nodded slowly, still looking at the note.

'I'm not as old as this one, Harry,' he murmured, 'they could be very strong.'

'Then we'll be prepared,' said Harry firmly, confidently.

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They spent what was left of the afternoon distracting themselves from thinking about the meeting to which they had been summoned. Both of them felt the unspoken command in the short note, the power behind the spidery writing. Harry had gone to look at the place they were meeting; a small cafe in a quiet street. It didn't look as though it would be crowded at night. An elderly woman mopped the floor and glanced curiously up at him as he held his hands to the glass and peered through the window. The walls were painted back with silver and red lilies painted on in bold, swirling strokes. The tables crowded together and some red leather booths in the corner looked like the right sort of place for a midnight meeting, Harry mused to himself as he walked back to the house.

When he came in he realised Edward had been out too this afternoon. Four or five shopping bags lay on the floor near the stereo. The logos on the bag testified to the expensive nature of the shops that Edward had visited. He came in from the kitchen, towelling his hair so that it stood around his head in the golden halo which was becoming so familiar to Harry. He brushed cold, damp lips across Harry's mouth as he gestured with the hand holding the towel.

'Clothes,' he stated. 'I thought we should dress the part. Those two bags are yours.' Harry reached into the first bag and found a white, tailored shirt. It had a mandarin collar and was immaculately pressed. Underneath it in the bag was a pair of black denim jeans, also very well made and underwear and socks. The other bag held a grey leather jacket; it too had a mandarin collar with a pewter buckle fastening which matched the pewter zip up the front. The leather was soft and the stitching was obviously hand done. 'These are yours too.' Edward passed Harry a box. Inside was a pair of black leather Chelsea boots. They were just the right size and the small pewter buckle around the heel glittered in the fading sunlight coming in the window.

'Thanks.' Harry smiled at Edward. He'd never had such nice clothes. Just Dudley's cast offs and his wizarding robes. Edward smiled back, obviously enjoying Harry's pleasure in his gifts. He'd never understood Alice's enjoyment of shopping before. Maybe he'd just never had the right body to dress. He grinned wider. 'What've you got?' Harry asked and Edward dragged his mind back to the afternoon's shopping. Edward handed Harry his bags.

A grey, fitted t shirt, a black jacket, the darker twin to Harry's, the same black, denim jeans and bigger heavy boots with the same beautiful stitching and buckle. Obviously Edward knew how to dress himself. 'How did you know my size?' asked Harry suddenly self conscious of his scruffy appearance. Edward stepped towards him and held his face in his cool fingers.

'I felt my way around.' He grinned and kissed Harry passionately. Harry sucked in his breath and Edward laughed. Edward strode away across the room, his finely muscled torso and low slung, baggy jeans making Hurry's heart pound painfully. Edward switched on the stereo and Harry heard the whirling sound of the disc in the machine before the music started up. Electronic chords swelled from the speakers, plucking the air around them. Harry moved to stand behind Edward and put his arms around the cold, beautiful body. His fingers reached up and gently stoked Edward's hard nipples and rubbed along the vampire's muscles. Edward leaned back into Harry's arms. A low, British voice began to sing from the speakers. 'I'm waiting for the night to fall.'

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The CD had played three times before they had finished with each other's bodies. Harry knew it would now be part of his memory of their lovemaking. The feelings of the music had been amplified by their own emotional intensity. His magic had played the words and notes around their bodies, building the sensation until it had almost been unbearable. Harry had not been able to discern where his skin ended and Edward's began, despite their difference in temperature.

'Clean, the cleanest I've been,' the voice from the speakers had breathed,' an end to the tears, to the in between years, to the troubles I've seen.' Harry had felt the words go through him as Edward shuddered under his touch, felt himself clean of the troubles of his past as though he had written those words. Later, lying over Edward's cool, hard body, looking deep into those topaz eyes now slitted shut in orgasm, the words of another song registered in Harry's mind. 'That's all there is, nothing more than you can feel now, that's all there is.' And it was true, Harry mused. No matter what happened tonight in this strange meeting, this was all there was.

Harry turned the CD cover over in his hands, not really reading the sleeve notes. The picture on the front was a single red rose on a black background. The image reminded him of the walls in the cafe where they were to meet this old vampire. What would he look like Harry wondered. What did he want?

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Edward marvelled at the body of his lover as Harry bent over the claw footed bathtub running the hot water. How could this boy still arouse so much desire in him? How long could this feeling last? The feeling of needing to touch, to caress and kiss which almost instantly built into fierce wanting. How often had they made love? The question was immaterial, he decided, any number of times would not make the need go away. As soon as orgasm had rushed him on like a tidal wave, the second of its ebbing became the beginning of a new wave. If Harry hadn't needed to sleep and eat Edward was sure that they could have carried on exploring each other for days, weeks. He chuckled to himself. Would Harry be old and Edward still want to hold him, still want to make him come, wordlessly staring into his green eyes? Harry had suggested his magic could keep him young or at least appear to but Edward could not imagine this feeling changing as Harry changed. Even though they had known each other only a few days Edward still wondered what he did before Harry? Had he really felt anything? He thought of Bella, how convinced he'd been of his love for her but next to this profundity of emotion Bella paled into insignificance. Harry stood up, breaking Edward's thoughts. He stepped into the warm water, easing himself gently down until his chin was level with the edge of the tub. He sighed and closed his eyes slowly. Edward walked over, Harry didn't open his eyes but his hand stroked Edward's marble thigh absently.

'Coming in?' he smiled. Edward lifted one leg and placed it in the water. The heat stung his skin and he felt his body begin to warm. The bath was dangerously full and he stood very still, one leg in the water and one foot resting his weight on the edge of the bath while the water spilled out through the overflow. Harry opened his eyes and laughed at Edward's calm position as he waited for the water level to accommodate him. 'You're so still!' exclaimed Harry, taking in all of Edward's body as the water sloshed over the edge of the bath with Harry's laughter.

'I am dead you know,' commented Edward wryly raising an eyebrow.

'Not completely,' was Harry's answer as he slid down the bath and reached up to touch Edward. He laughed. 'Nope. Not completely dead.'

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Edward unfastened the top and the bottom two buttons on Harry's white shirt. 'Like this' he smiled at the smaller boy, 'and this.' he added as he untucked the shirt from the black jeans. 'There,' he stepped back admiringly, 'perfect.' Harry blushed and smiled at the compliment. It was hard to get used to someone as gorgeous as Edward feeling attracted to you he decided. The rush of arousal he felt when Edward looked at him wasn't just because Edward was heart -stoppingly beautiful but also because of the way he looked at Harry as though he thought the same thing about him. Harry shook his head and laughed.

'What?' Edward turned from the mirror where he was arranging his hair so it looked like it had when he'd just got out of bed; Harry blushed again at the thought.

'Just getting used to having a drop dead gorgeous boyfriend' He laughed again, nervous about using the word.

Edward's grin was radiant and he raised an eyebrow. 'Not completely dead' he smiled.

'Mmmm' was Harry's answer as he kissed Edward's full mouth.


	15. Chapter 15

The cafe, for somewhere so small and out of the way, was more crowded than Harry would have imagined. Couples laughed in the flickering candles lit in ornate, black glass holders on the tables. Firelight glinted from marble skin and sharp, wicked white teeth. Harry blinked. They were all vampires. Edward must have heard Harry's heart begin to beat faster; he reached a cold hand and rested it on Harry's shoulder. The other vampires must have heard it too because they turned, wordlessly towards them, their gaze hungry and fierce. One slim, dark haired woman licked a red tongue over her crimson lips at him. Harry saw the venom silver her lips for a moment, felt himself blush and heard her laugh throatily. Edward growled softly and the crowd looked away, not with disinterest but out of respect for Edward's rights of ownership. Harry felt this unspoken agreement and realised again that Edward was actually a predator, a killer. He swallowed.

Edward's grip steered Harry to a table, as they sat a waiter arrived. He was a mortal, Harry noted looking at the vein in his neck pulsing and the flush of his skin. He smiled warmly at Harry and more nervously at Edward as he gestured with his notepad that he was ready to take their order. 'Not now,' commanded Edward. The waiter moved quickly away.

Before Harry could take in any more of his surroundings the seat opposite him was taken by a woman. She was dressed all in black and red, in a costume Harry thought must have been Victorian in its design. Lace contrasted sharply with the white of her skin at her breast and Harry was reminded again of Snow White. This woman was dazzling even in this company. Small of frame, her hair, as black as midnight; fell in loose curls around her white shoulders. Her eyes were large and almost completely black, when she turned Harry saw that they were actually a dark, deep red. There was something alive and quick about her, he decided, even though she was clearly undead. Her movements were the sharp actions of a hunter. With an imperious wave she summoned the waiter.

The ancient cut glass goblet he put in front of her was filled with a deep red liquid. Blood, thought Harry and felt his eyes widen at the thought. Edward received the same, though he wrinkled his nose in disgust and furiously pushed the glass away from him. Harry caught a glimpse of Edward's reaction before he composed himself again. Revulsion and excitement? Harry was confused. The woman brought the glass to her lips and sipped delicately, the blood stained her top lip and a lascivious tongue licked it clean. She sighed with obvious pleasure. Human blood, Harry realised with shock. She was drinking warm, human blood. No wonder Edward looked so distressed, his urge to drink it must be immense and yet he was resisting. The waiter removed the Edward's glass from the table and murmured an apology.

'We have deer's blood?' he suggested carefully, 'stag and doe.' he added. Edward nodded once. The waiter began to ask a question but one look from Edward's glittering eyes silenced him. He put down a glass in front of Harry and scurried away. Harry looked sceptically at his drink. Wine, he decided, it had not the colour of the consistency of the blood the woman was obviously enjoying. How anyone mistook the two was a mystery to him now he had seen them side by side. Now he had noticed Harry saw that most people in the bar were also drinking blood. It made him nervous. Whose blood was this? He wondered, his mind racing. Feeling eyes turning to him again he tried to slow his heartbeat. Their guest smiled at him as if she had heard his thoughts aloud.

By the time the waiter had brought Edward's drink the woman had finished her own. She licked her lips again appreciatively. Then she spoke.

'Thank you gentlemen for accepting my invitation.' Her accent was refined English and her voice like crystal, clear and commanding. 'I bring you greetings from my,' she hesitated and her perfect brow wrinkled slightly,' my master.' She finished the word snapping her mouth shut on the last syllable. Edward was leaning forward frowning at her. He's trying to read her thoughts decided Harry. It didn't look as though he was having any luck either. Harry decided to speak.

'Who are you?' he demanded getting straight to the point. 'And who's this master? Why did you want to see us? How do you even know who we are?' The woman smiled indulgently at his questions. Harry got the impression she might have used this same expression to a child who asked 'why' too often. Right before she ripped its throat out, he added to himself.

'My name in Mina Harker and my master needs no introduction.' She smiled as Edward sat back in his chair as though he had been shocked. 'I see your,' again she chose her word carefully, 'your lover has heard of me.

'Mina Harker?' Edward's voice was harsh.' You expect us to believe that _you're_ Mina Harker?' He shook his head. 'And I suppose your master is the Count?' He hissed scathingly though Harry could hear the shock in his voice. Harry was surprised. Who were they talking about? He had no idea.

'My name is indeed Mina Harker, though once I was known as Mina Murray.' The woman's voice was even though Harry could tell she was angry by being doubted.' My master is the Count you speak of. Count Dracula.' She added in a louder voice. The cafe patrons hushed at the name. Many of them looked away as though they had been caught eavesdropping and then their conversation began again in a forced, over animated way as though they were desperate to be seen not to listen.

'Isn't he a character in a book?' whispered Harry quietly, even he had heard of that name before, his mind spun frantically trying to remember the plot of a film he'd never seen. 'And doesn't he die in the end... of the book?' he ended lamely. Mina's eyes flashed dangerously and her voice took on a deeper timbre as though it was the voice of another superimposed over her own.

'Do you think that fool Stoker would have written such a ludicrous story if he was not compelled to do so by the Count himself?' she hissed leaning forward, her eyes flashing. 'That fool Quincy Morris would have sooner sliced open his own neck than risk the Master's displeasure!'

'You're saying Dracula forced Stoker to write that version of the story as a cover up? That he faked his own death in the novel to distract the world from his existence?' asked Edward butting in and ignoring her hiss when he called the Count by his real name. She nodded once, the subject was obviously closed.

'So, what does... your master want?' questioned Harry in the silence that followed. Mina's eyes turned to him and he was struck with how dangerous she looked, how insane.

'He wishes to avail himself of your...talents Mr Potter.' She answered simply. Harry felt Edward's body stiffen beside him and he put his hand on the cold knee which touched his own.

'What does he want me to do?' Harry asked. Mrs Harker leant back in her chair, she seemed nonchalant and calm now.

'Just some simple conjuring to help his remain in his secluded state. She answered eyes wide as though she was telling the truth. Harry knew she wasn't.

'We're not interested.' Snapped Edward before Harry could speak. He stood holding Harry's hand and led him quickly from the cafe. Although Harry knew that everyone had been listening, no one seemed to watch their exit.

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Harry's arm hurt as Edward hurried him down the dark, quiet street. He'd never hurt Harry before. He was fighting the urge to run as fast as he could.

'Stop,' whispered Harry, afraid to speak aloud in the deserted street. Edward turned cold eyes to stare at him. Harry watched as the warmth came back into his gaze. Edward shook himself.

'Sorry, 'he pulled Harry to him and kissed him. 'I didn't mean to hurt you. I just want to get us away from that place, from that woman.' He glanced back down the street as though he thought she was following them.

'What do they really want?' asked Harry as they continued their hurried pace along passed sleeping houses.

'No idea.' Edward's answer was abrupt.

'Couldn't you read her thoughts?' Harry questioned Edward's hard profile in the moonlight.

'She was shielding them, with magic I think. Couldn't you feel it?' He turned to look at Harry.

'I did feel something,' Harry answered slowly, thinking back, 'but I can't be sure what it was. It wasn't her own magic,' his voice was more confident. 'It was as though someone had cast a glamour for her before she came to meet us.' he decided,' I sensed her own feelings under the glamour.'

'And they were?' Edward's voice was hard again.

'Sad, lonely and angry,' concluded Harry. That was it, he thought, she felt like Edward had before they had met.

Edward's vampire senses noted the sudden silence around them. It was as though nature held her breath, he thought to himself, as though she was too afraid even to breathe. Harry noticed the clouds gathering overhead. When had the moon been hidden, he wondered. The clouds were heavy, black and ominous and they ran along the sky like black wolves, hunting. The thought made Harry shiver. The rain began. Hard, heavy drops, unlike anything Harry had ever experienced before, slashed down at them from the sky. Lightening tore across the clouds as though it was ripping the belly of the sky and the cold raindrops were its blood spurting from the gaping wounds. Edward pulled again at Harry's arm but Harry had stopped in the road. He was looking up into the clouds and his face was a frozen mask of terror. His magic fought around him battling against a foe that Edward could not see. He followed Harry's gaze into the dark sky.

Harry felt the power, evil and inhuman. More dreadful than the power he had felt from Voldemort because of it utter inhumanity. Any human feeling it had was long gone and it seethed and raged with the power of a killer. The rule of the predator thrilled through its lightening and pounded in its thunder. Kill or be killed. And Harry was running again, this time pulling Edward along until the vampire's legs unfroze and he tore after him, overtaking him and dragging him along. They slipped and slid along the soaking cobbles. When Harry stumbled, Edward held him up and ran almost holding the wizard off his feet with his own speed. Speed fuelled by terror. The thunder growled above them, a frightening ancestor to the growl in Edward's chest beside him. The wind lashed and the rain lashed at their faces, their hair. Edward could hear Harry's ragged breath hoarse in his throat and his heart pounding wildly, dangerously in his fragile, mortal chest. He dragged them into a doorway.

Harry bent over, hands on his knees pulling in heaving breaths into his tortured lungs, willing his pulse to slow. The lightening clawed at the rooftops of the city, tearing its way over to the east. The rain and thundered scoured the sky after it. Questing like a hound with a scent of prey in its nose. The street where they stood was silent. Even Harry could feel the relief of all living things now the storm had passed. Edward could hear the people in the houses, turning in their sleep, the mice in their holes daring to shiver. He held Harry to him, burying his nose in the black damp hair, feeling the boy's breathing slowing. Harry, in turn, clung to Edward. The storm had made him realise something more dreadful than he could have imagined before this night. There was something out there worse than Voldemort.

From the gloomy street came a voice.

'Fleeing in the night! How terribly romantic my dear boys!' the drawling, upper class English accent was amused.


	16. Chapter 16

A man stepped from the shadows opposite them. He wore an old fashioned costume; it reminded Harry of a period drama he'd seen on the Dursley's television one night through a crack in the door under the stairs. The man's hair was long and back and tied back in a neat ponytail with a black ribbon. His shiny boots glistened in the moonlight which was silvering the street with the retreat of the clouds. His face was as amused as his voice. The sensual red lips curved into a wicked smile as though the whole thing was spectacle put on for his entertainment. It was a face which was used to be entertained. There was something cruel and beautiful in it, thought Edward, his nostrils flaring as he took in the man's scent. Vampire, a very old vampire. Harry's magic shot out from him, towards the strange young man. In the same instant long, delicate hands grabbed Edward from behind and pushed Harry out into the street. He whirled to help Edward but the young man tutted loudly and shook his head.

'I wouldn't if I were you, dear thing.' He drawled and studied his nails as though the whole scene bored him to death. Then his eyes flashed to Harry's, 'you see Zillah is very fast. It's his age you see. Ancient.' The young man sniggered. 'And don't bother to fight young Edward; Zillah just loves it when they struggle. I should know.' He flashed a glance at Edward's attacker who laughed a low chuckle. Harry turned so he had his back to the wall, away from both of them. The man holding Zillah looked about nineteen but from the strained look on Edward's face, Harry he guessed this wasn't his real age. He was obviously very strong, though his slim build and long hair disguised him well. The hair was long and black, in the light Harry could discern it was shot through with purple. Zillah's face was that of a carved marble god. The long black lashes swept dramatically over his kohl lined eyes. His chin was aquiline and Harry found himself wondering if Zillah was a Roman, an original Roman. His mouth was fixed in a leer which Harry found disturbing and erotic. Zillah's long fingers flexed as Edward tried to move. Zillah held Edward with one hand splayed across Edward's chest and one hand tangled tightly in the golden hair, bending the neck submissively and painfully to the side.

'Now, dear boy, just answer me one question.' The man paused and Harry knew it was for dramatic effect. Harry nodded numbly.

'What did the Harker bitch want?' The man's playful tone turned cold. His black eyes bored into Harry, willing a response from him. If he's been a muggle he would have just blurted out the answer. Harry fell silent. How much should he tell?

'Zillah, be a dear and encourage our young friend,' the man called out. Harry turned to watch Zillah. Even though Edward's head was already pulled painfully back Zillah's grip stretched Edward's white neck further. He dipped his mouth, crimson and full towards Edward's exposed throat. Harry's chest tightened and his mind whirled frantically to plan an attack. Zillah's lips were brushing his throat and Edward's eyes were wide, staring at Harry. Gripping Edward harder still Zillah sucked painfully at the sensitive skin on his throat. Edward's feet left the floor and he kicked feebly as Zillah's powerful mouth worked at his throat. Zillah's hand pinned Edward tightly to him. Harry felt a thrill of fear and, skulking underneath the fear, a second thrill as he saw Edward, vulnerable and fragile in the hands of the stronger vampire. Zillah finished the kiss with a sensual, lazy long lick of his tongue. Harry saw it was silver with venom. Edward moaned. Harry dragged his eyes away, denying the rising arousal he felt at Edward's violation. The other young man, who had leant back to enjoy Zillah's' work laughed and his laughter echoed off the dark walls.

'Come on!' he shouted clapping his hands loudly, startling Harry and breaking the spell of desire which was threading its way between Harry, Edward and his captor.

Harry shook himself. 'She wanted me to do some magic, 'he replied, ' for Dracula.' He said feeling ridiculous at saying the name out loud and then, remembering the power of the storm, he shivered.

'Excellent!' the young man's gesture to Zillah was theatrical and Edward was released. He staggered forward. 'Did you accept?' he pondered for a moment. 'No, of course you didn't. Hence the storm. Marvellous.' Zillah had slipped to his side and the young man threw an affectionate arm about the bony shoulders and planted a long kiss on the full mouth which had been violently pressed against Edward's throat. They stood close together. Zillah clutching the young man's hair as they kissed, freeing it from its ponytail. The young man ran his hands all over Zillah's slim body. All over, Harry noted with surprise. It seemed as though the peril of the situation had turned them on. Edward coughed the sound hoarse and sore. The two vampires stopped their groping and fell apart.

'Sorry sweethearts,' the young man's voice was almost a laugh as he pushed himself back from Zillah's hard body. He wasn't effeminate Harry thought to himself. This playful exterior held a steel core, it was his act. 'We're just so happy that you didn't make a deal with that...' he grimaced, 'woman.' He ended although he obviously wanted to use a stronger term. He stepped nearer to Harry and Edward. They both stepped back.

'You've met Zillah here.' He winked obscenely at Edward, who would have blushed if he could. 'No last name. They didn't use them when he became immortal. And I,' he swept a low bow which suited his attire and demeanour, 'am Lord Ruthven.'


	17. Chapter 17

Edward wasn't sure how they'd ended up following Ruthven and Zillah to the club. Something about the way the man talked, and man did he talk, compelled you to follow him. Ruthven twirled in the road in front of them, walking backwards and gesturing with his hands, dancing backwards and forwards to capture his audience. As he walked he told what Edward was sure was an edited version of his existence so far. He was very old, he announced, twinkling an eye at Harry who had blushed, Edward had noticed. He was, he announced airily, a distant cousin to that scandalous mortal Lord Byron.

'Do you know,' he drawled, 'one has been mistaken for him all too often but I'm so much more handsome,' the twinkle again, this time at Edward and now it was Edward's turn to feel the full force of that seductive charm. As they walked along, following their Pied piper like dutiful children Ruthven did not mentioned Dracula once. When he grew bored of spinning his tales about his travels and exploits, and there were many of those, he caught up with Zillah's' long strides ahead and tugged on his hand until Zillah slowed down and kissed him in the street. Ruthven didn't care. It seemed he didn't care about much, personal privacy being one of the things he disregarded entirely. He slapped shoulders and smiled broadly at the other night time party goers now crowding the streets as they neared the club. People smiled back, everyone seemed to like him enormously. The music of the club had been pounding from blocks away. The queue outside was long and Edward was secretly pleased to think they might just end up going home. Ruthven smiled winningly at the burly guy on the door. He shouted something and waved to indicate Edward and Harry, the red rope was unsnapped and they walked in front of the queue.

The music was loud, deafening for Edward until he adjusted to the volume. The beat thumped through the walls and the floor like a giant's heartbeat. Edward didn't know if Harry had ever been in a nightclub before, let alone a gay nightclub but one look at his face told Edward this was a first. Ruthven noticed too.

'A virgin!' he shouted in glee, causing several other clubbers to turn around and leer at Harry. Harry grinned back, clearly amused by the comment.

'That's what he thinks.' Harry stood on his toes to whisper in Edward ear. Edward grinned. Ruthven caught the exchange and smiled more broadly.

'Dear boys!' he exclaimed clutching his chest. 'How marvellous! You'll have to invite us over for an evening sometime.' Harry slid a glance at Edward's face. The vampire had gone even whiter, if that was possible. He smiled to himself, over a hundred years old and still shockable.

Zillah had found a table. This effort had mainly consisted of finding a table occupied by a couple of guys, obviously together. Zillah had tapped one on the shoulder and, as he turned, swept him into a hard, long kiss. When his partner stood up to object Zillah dragged him over too. When he let them go, the men walked away, dazed and surprised. Ruthven laughed and sat himself down.

'Zillah, darling. Drinks, I thinks!' he waved Zillah to the bar and Edward wondered where Zillah kept his money in those tight trousers. On second thoughts, maybe he didn't want to know. He turned to Ruthven.

'So, what do YOU want out of all this?' he stared accusingly, refusing to be charmed anymore. Ruthven's face was the most serious he'd seen it so far. He leaned across the table and spoke loudly enough for Harry to hear.

'I want to scupper that old bastard Dracula.' He enunciated clearly and then he leant back in his chair.

'Why?' Harry beat Edward to the question.

'Because he thinks he can order the rest of us around. He's old,' he shrugged, 'but he's younger than Zillah.' Ruthven turned to look over his shoulder. Harry and Edward turned too, to see a very young looking Zillah with his tongue down the barman's throat. The barman looked as if he was really enjoying it. So did Zillah. 'Bet the drinks are free,' laughed Ruthven, obviously unconcerned by Zillah's antics. 'So did Mina say exactly what the Count wanted?' Ruthven pronounced the name with a fake eastern European accent and smiled.

'Just some magic to help him stay hidden, was all she said,' answered Harry, looking back at the bar where Zillah now had another, very young looking guy in his arms.

'Obviously Harker is getting too old for him,' mused Ruthven arching his fingers into a steeple and resting his chin lightly on them.

'How old is she then?' asked Harry, not understanding.

'Not _Mina_ Harked, dear boy, Jonathan Harker.'

'Who's he? Her brother?' Harry was even more confused. Ruthven slapped the table with a long pale hand.

'Ye Gods! Doesn't anyone read anymore?' he shouted in exasperation. A few other revellers looked over at them curiously. Ruthven leaned forward so Harry could hear him. 'Jonathan Harked is Mina's husband. He's a wizard, something the Stoker didn't dare mention,' he answered Edward's raised eyebrow 'Dracula used Mina to ensnare him and has kept them apart ever since. Jonathan is the Count's pet wizard, you might say.' Suddenly Harry understood the feelings he'd discerned from Mina. Love, longing and great sorrow. He tried to imagine being kept from Edward for hundreds of years, as some demented vampire's 'pet wizard', he shuddered. 'Just so dear boy,' sighed Ruthven as Zillah arrived with the drinks and a friend.

It was the very young boy Harry had seen at the bar. He smiled at them in a friendly way, obviously not understanding English. His long, blonde bob swayed gently as he sat down. He had very blue eyes and a wide, full mouth. Zillah sat down next to him, throwing an arm around Ruthven and his leg over the boy's knees. The boy smiled brilliantly into Zillah's dangerous eyes. Zillah's answer was to kiss him, deeply. Harry saw Zillah's pale fingers stroking up the boy's thigh and glanced away quickly. He looked at Edward. Edward was sitting immobile, a frozen look on his face. Of course, Harry realised, it was so much harder for Edward. He could hear what Zillah was thinking as well as see what his hands were doing. Harry swallowed as Zillah held the boy's head and pulled Ruthven over to join the kiss. He leaned back as Ruthven devoured the boy's mouth, running his hands through the ebony hair of his lover and the blonde tresses of the new friend. Edward stood up. The three broke the kiss and Ruthven looked up in surprise.

'We'll be going then.' Edward announced abruptly, clasping Harry's hand and dragging him to his feet too.

'Er yeah, bye,' stammered Harry, his mind still on the three men kissing each other.

'So soon?' Ruthven looked genuinely dismayed. 'I'd hoped we could all come and continue the party at your house Edward.' Harry felt Edward's hand clench. Then Ruthven waved an airy hand.' Never mind. There's always next time!' he stood up, 'I shall call upon you soon. Very soon.'

'What for?' blurted Harry.

'To discuss how we can turn Dracula's situation to our own advantage of course!' Ruthven was pulled back to the table by Zillah's beckoning hand on his arm. Harry watched as Zillah placed the hand back in the young man's crotch. Then Edward dragged him away.

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They were outside in the deserted alleyway, music muted by the thick walls of the old building which housed the club. Harry had been expecting a brisk walk home so he was surprised when Edward pulled him into a passionate embrace. He tried to think as Edward's hands found the waistband of the black jeans and snaked beneath the fabric. He stopped trying to think; his magic flared out from inside him swirling with pleasure. Delicate violet lights danced around the two boys. With his face pressed against Harry's ear Edward hissed.

'How did you feel watching those three?' his fingers were cruel but the pain only intensified Harry's pleasure.

'Turned on,' whispered Harry, knowing it was the answer Edward wanted to hear. Edward ground himself against Harry, his hand stroking Harry's sensitive flesh until Harry couldn't think of anything else. The magic was rising in waves now, as though Edward was playing on it like a piano.

'And how did you feel watching Zillah at my throat?' his voice was hoarse with lust now and his fingers stopped in their movement causing Harry to arch and moan.

'Turned on,' whispered Harry again, not sure where Edward was going with this line of questioning. The magic flickered from violet to lighter blue. 'How did you feel Edward?' It was Harry's turn to torment Edward through the hard fabric of the denim. Edward moaned in his ear, the sound sending Harry crazy with lust for his vampire lover.

'God turned on Harry. Really, fucking turned on. Knowing you were watching.' The last words hissed out as Edward's body began to move under Harry's hands. He couldn't stop himself; he was making noises he knew that people in the street queuing for the club must have been able to hear. Harry drew his magic to him, covered them, sealing them in a bubble of lust. Edward came, hissing air he didn't need through his teeth in Harry's ear. Harry gave him a moment to recover and, putting his hands on Edward's shoulders, pushed the vampire down until he knelt in front of him. Edward looked up and grinned as his fingers undid Harry's trousers.


	18. Chapter 18

Harry sat in the window as the morning sun slid its way through the branches of the tall hedges that hid the front of the house. His head was in his hands as he played the night's events over and again in his mind. Such a mixture of feeling had sped through him last night, he mused, he'd quite got used to his life with Edward. Now it seemed his talent for turmoil had caught up with them both. Too soon, thought Harry and he sighed.

Edward came down into the room; his jeans slung low on his hips and his chest bare and glistening from his bath. The house was silent but for the gush of water from upstairs as the bath emptied. His hair hung, dark golden, on his neck and he stopped to take in the sight of Harry in the window. The young wizard looked pale in the soft morning sunshine and he had taken off his glasses. They dangled from one hand while the other rubbed between his dark brows. They were creased in thought.

'What're you thinking?' asked Edward as he stood in front of Harry's bent frame. Harry looked up, his green eyes weary.

'Just that I was really enjoying being a normal boy,' he smiled wanly at Edward's raised eyebrow, 'and that now I've gone and brought all this trouble to our door. Again,' he added sighing and shaking his head. 'I'm sorry.'

Edward knelt down and took Harry's head in his hands, turning it so he could look into Harry's eyes.

'I've just been upstairs thinking just the same thing.' He smiled, 'I'm sorry I've brought you into this Harry. Maybe you'd be better off without me?'

Harry looked up sharply at that. His voice was serious.

'Never say that again Edward. I've been so happy these last few days and that's all because of you. You didn't bring this trouble down on us. I'm good at doing that myself,' Harry smiled.' With your past and mine this sort of trouble was bound to find us someday. We've just got to deal with this and then people will leave us alone. We'll just show them that it's not worth it. That we're not going to have anything to do with their power struggles.' He kissed Edward lightly and put his arms around him. They stayed there on the floor and just hugged each other. Harry buried his face in Edward's hair and breathed the scent of him in. Even in all this drama, this was where he felt safest. Edward held Harry's warm body in his arms and wished that they were a million miles from Dracula and Ruthven and their ancient feud.

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Harry felt tired as he left the house for his hotel. He didn't really have the energy to talk to Hermione and Ron but he knew they'd be worrying and it made sense for him to let them know about the threat from Dracula. He hadn't wanted to leave Edward, he was doing too much brooding and , although he'd agreed with Harry about trouble finding them whether they were together of apart so they might as well be together, Harry could tell Edward still felt responsible. A vampire with guilt issues. Harry smiled and turned down the alley to take the short cut, he didn't want to be gone too long. As he passed a doorway shaded with roses a white arm snaked out and a voice hissed.

'Master Potter.'

Harry looked into the shadows and saw that the person accosting him was Mina Harker. He shrugged off her hand and was about to walk quickly away when he saw the look of pain on her face and the fact that the hand on his arm was smouldering, about to set on fire.

'What the hell?' he allowed himself to be dragged into the doorway, into the shade. No matter what he'd thought about the woman it was clear she was desperate to speak to him. She was looking down at her hand which had stopped smoking and was now scarred with red welts where the sun had caught her skin. 'Are you ok?' asked Harry.

'I will be.' She took a deep breath,' what I have to say to you Harry you may not believe and I understand if you choose not to listen to me but I assure you I am in earnest.' Her face was not the haughty mask of last night and she looked like a frightened young woman. She spoke quickly and Harry searched with his magic for her feelings. This time there was no glamour to cloud his perceptions. She was serious and worried and scared. Something about the change in her expression and demeanour made Harry want to know what she had to say. He nodded.

'Harry you are in great danger. The Count will not brook any refusal of his offer to you and he is at this moment poised to strike against you.' She looked nervously out into the street. 'Edward is not with you?' she frowned.

'No, he's at the house. What's going on Mina? Why are you telling me this now? I thought you and Dracula were on the same side?' Mina shook her head furiously.

'No, I am bound to do his will. I am his creature but...' she stopped and bit her lip. Bright red blood welled there and Harry felt himself stare as her tongue licked the wound clean and it healed before his eyes.

'I don't understand.' Harry shook his head.' Why didn't you say this last night? Why didn't you come to the house?' Mina shook her head again.

'I can't go out in the sun Harry. You saw what just happened to my hand when I reached out to you. I don't know what the difference is between Edward's kind and my own,' she went on seeing Harry's question before he got chance to voice it,' maybe we're different species all together. I don't know. Edward doesn't have these either does he?' she bared her teeth to reveal sharp wicked looking fangs. Harry shook his head astonished.

'No, his family have venom, they don't have...' he trailed off. His mind was racing. Different vampires, with different strengths and weaknesses. It would account for all the varying mythology around them, he decided. Edward said crosses didn't bother him and daylight didn't kill him but Mina's arm was proof that she was different. He gathered himself together. 'Mina. What is Dracula going to do? How can you talk to me now? Last night you seemed... different?'

'Dracula made me Harry. He took away my mortal life and made me immortal. That gives him great power over me. He has control over me from sundown until dawn. During the day I am more... myself although I can't do very much because of the sunlight. It's why he's kept us here in Italy so long, it means he has more control over us all.' A blood red tear began to form in her eye. She sniffed and swept it away with her hand which was already beginning to heal. 'Harry, I can't bear to watch as you and Edward are used as he has used Jonathan and I. I had to warn you. He knows where you live and he will find some way to make you do what he wants. He always does. When I told him of your answer I was fearful but he merely shrugged. I fear he is planning to force your hand.'

'How could he do that?' asked Harry a little arrogantly, ' how could he make me...' his voice trailed off and his face went pale as he realised exactly how Dracula could force his arm. 'Edward! My god Mina he'll hurt Edward!' He let go of her arm, spinning on the cobbles and sped back the way he had come, hoping he wasn't too late.

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Edward was looking at his arm in the bright sunshine from the window. He would never get used to the sight of his skin, satin, mortal. He felt again the surge of love inside him for this amazing boy. He would never cease to be astonished at how happy Harry had made him. He almost felt guilty for being able to feel so happy. Even though his human victims had been themselves killers and abusers he still felt guilt that he had taken their lives. How could such a one as he deserve this joy? And to have his love returned was too much to even have hoped for. He smiled and shook his head. Harry would chastise him if he heard these thoughts. Wonderful, forgiving boy Edward thought to himself. 'Come home soon,' he whispered to the empty room.

He heard Harry's approach down the path; even though the brambles had been cleared they still managed to snag and tear clothes sometimes. Then Edward felt the magic spiralling towards him. The silver and golden fingers waved over the parquet floor of the room until they touched the hem of his jeans. As though bending to stroke a friendly cat Edward bent and felt the magic nuzzle his fingers. It rolled like a gentle sea against his legs and twined and twirled up his legs, caressing his body and thrilling him with desire. It played over his chest and stroked his lips and cheeks. Edward sighed and closed his eyes, letting the magic wash over him and through him, surrendering himself to it. He yearned for Harry to come and touch him, love him. His body was taut with longing. He began to open his eyes, was about to speak but then the world around him gently faded away and his limp body fell to the floor.


	19. Chapter 19

Harry ran into the house sensing immediately that something was wrong but refusing to believe it.

'Edward!' he shouted at the top of his voice even though he knew that Edward's vampire hearing would have heard his approach long before he reached the house. He shouted over and over again; running blindly from room to room but the house was empty. He stood very still and felt out with his magic. It brought back to him whispers of another here in the house with Edward, a feeling of lust and then nothing. Had Edward been lured away by Dracula? Harry's mind beat frantically inside his head like a bird in a cage. A thousand questions flew at him. Had Edward been seduced away? Surely he wouldn't have... no it was impossible! Had he been forced? Hurt? Harry's mind was a blur with panic. Underneath the frantic thoughts was a dark voice which whispered to him that Edward had been hurt. 'Because of you,' it whispered,' once again you're the survivor Potter while the innocents end up dead.'

'No!' he shouted, 'not again!' He began to cry. He cried and cried until there were no more tears left in him; until his eyes hurt and his chest burned with pain; until the agony was replaced by a deadly calm. And fury.

He picked up his wand from amongst his belongings scattered on the floor and he went outside. He followed his instinct blindly, not heeding the people around him or the cars which sounded their horns angrily as he numbly walked into the road. He followed his feelings until they took him to the cafe where he and Edward had met Mina the night before. He tried not to look at the table they had shared or think about the night that had followed. The old woman was mopping the floor, her back hunched and her grey hair wiry under her headscarf.

'Excuse me?' she looked up from her work and saw the young man, his eyes red rimmed with crying. She stood up and leaned heavily on her mop. Harry realised she might not understand him.' Do you speak English?' The old lady nodded and her face lined with even more wrinkles as she smiled. Somehow that smile made Harry want to cry even more. The kindness of this stranger reopening the grief he was feeling. He took a deep breath.

'I need to see Lord Ruthven,' he explained. The old woman's face frowned and he was afraid she didn't know him. 'Erm, Lord Ruthven,' he said again, 'an Englishman. Very handsome, lots of money?' the old lady nodded and reached into her pocket for a piece of paper and a pencil. She wrote down the name of a street and another word, it seemed to be a name. 'Will I find him here?' Harry asked tapping the paper. She nodded and smiled at him showing her few teeth. Harry noticed that in her old wizened gums the canine teeth were sharp and healthy. He swallowed and thanked her again rushing back out into the sunshine.

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Harry found the street quite easily, he should have been surprised but he felt numb, as though all this was a dream, a horrible nightmare that he would wake from and feel Edward's cool fingers stroking his hair. He forced the tears back. It seemed his magic could trace Ruthven somehow. Something about the Lord's personality left a flavour in the air and Harry followed the scent until he was on the street to which the old lady had sent him. There were some small, run down houses on one side and a high wall on the other. Halfway down the wall was an archway with a black iron gate, slightly ajar. Harry looked through the gate. The archway led to a sprawling graveyard. Squaring his shoulders he pushed open the gate. It swung back without the creak he had expected. A voice inside him told him that Ruthven would know he was coming whether the gate squeaked or not. Harry felt his heart begin to beat faster but he knew that he had to see the vampire again. Edward's existence depended on it. Once again he felt the stab of pain which urged him on.

The place seemed like a small town for the dead. There were no graves but instead huge, decrepit family crypts lined the 'streets'. Many of the names were worn or chipped away and ivy grew thickly over statues of what Harry assumed must be angels. Sometimes all that was visible was a hand reaching up and pointing to heaven as though the angel had been eaten alive by the living green tangles. Harry shuddered and looked again at the paper the old lady had given him. The hot midday sun shone fiercely down between the stones and there was no place to shelter apart from inside the tombs themselves. Some of the doorways had been forced and Harry caught glimpses of dark interiors and white stone tables which glowed eerily inside. Just when he was beginning to seriously scare himself he saw a tomb inscribed with the word the old woman had given to him. The ivy had grown along the letters and served to highlight the name of the family buried inside. Polidori, it read, and then a list of dates. The wooden door which filled the gothic arch of the crypt was closed but not locked. Wishing he did not have to do this, Harry gave the door a shove with his shoulder. Dirt, dislodged from above the door, covered his head and shoulders making him sneeze.

'Lumos' he whispered. His wand began to give its familiar glow and the inside of the tomb was lit by the friendly golden light. There were several stone tables in the room, a few of them had collapsed with the years of neglect; their legs smashed away and their flat tops crooked. Along the edges of the walls were many small arches. They looked like shelves and Harry realised that they probably held the bones of the Polidori family who were not grand enough to warrant or afford a table slab grave. Avoiding looking too closely into the shadowy crevices Harry made for the low arch at the back of the crypt. It was obvious Ruthven was not in this room.

The doorway led to another smaller room similarly furnished with marble slabs. This room was much tidier and Harry started as he saw Ruthven and Zillah lying curled together on one of the long white tables. Ruthven's head was against Zillah's shoulder, his arm thrown over the sleeping vampire. They looked so peaceful and happy in their embrace that Harry thought his grief was going to rise up and swallow him. Looking at them made him realise that he and Edwards would never sleep like this, even if Harry managed to save Edward. Edward didn't sleep; couldn't sleep. He choked back a sob and tried to busy his mind with the fact that Ruthven and Zillah must also be the other sort of vampire. Not like Edward and his family. What about Edward's family? he thought. Should he have told them what had happened to Edward? From what Edward had said about Alice she might already know what had happened but then Edward had told Alice to stop looking. Harry felt the spark of hope he had felt flicker and die. He didn't know how to contact the Cullens. He didn't know where they lived apart from it was somewhere in North America where it rained a lot. Tears poured down his face as the pain he had been holding inside engulfed him. He leaned back against the wall of the tomb, his vision blurred by tears. Zillah opened one eye. Carefully extricating himself from Ruthven's sleeping body he padded on white, silent feet to Harry. He pulled the sobbing boy to him and held him gently to his chest, stroking his hair. When Harry's tears began to subside. Zillah held him at arm's length. Then he looked down at his sodden t shirt and pulled it over his head. Ruthven woke up. He stretched gracefully and swung himself to stand beside them.

'Ye gods,' he whispered looking at Zillah over Harry's tangled hair,' has the bastard killed him?'

Harry shook his head numbly. Ruthven exchanged a look with Zillah.

'Good, then he will keep him alive Harry,' he spoke softly and lifted Harry's chin with his finger until he could look into the startling green eyes. 'We will get him back dear boy.'


	20. Chapter 20

The cave was furnished richly with priceless antiques and sumptuous velvets. Harker hardly noticed them. The Count liked to maintain the standard to which he had become accustomed in his breathing life. Now the court was sleeping and draped around the room his courtiers lay across the chaises longue and the golden brocaded cushions. The dais at the end of the cave was curtained with flags embroidered with the Count's own insignia. Red dragons flew on the black silk which hung to the stone floor, polished and swept. They hid the Count's resting place from unworthy eyes. Harker approached feeling the familiar fear and hatred rise in his throat. He had tried to escape many times since his first unfortunate visit to the Count's castle. First, his own English sense of manners had held him captive, for how could he refuse the Count's hospitality? Now it was fear and love which held him in place. Fear of the dreadful creature he was bound to serve and love for his beloved wife Mina. He knew she too would be behind the curtain. What depravities the Count subjected her to had long ceased to burn him. He was not a young man despite his appearance. Magic held the facade of his youth together, Dracula demanded it. He had no wish to see age and decay around him, he had laughed. Still Harker had no desire to see his wife in the arms of the Count. Beautiful Mina, forever young. She had been only eighteen when he had proposed to her, long before his fateful trip to Transylvania, back when Victoria was still queen of England. For a moment he was lost in his reverie.

'Yesssss?' the voice was old, centuries old and as cold as death. Harker cleared his throat.

'I've made the arrangements you have asked for...Master.' His hesitation was momentary but he was sure it did not go unnoticed.

'The boy vampire?' the voice was thick with a sickening lust at the mention of the boy's name. Harker wrinkled his nose, unable to hide the distaste he felt.

'Secured in the palace.' He tried to keep his voice even, betraying nothing. He knew that the Count's senses were razor sharp.

'The American vampire hunter?' the voice sounded amused.

'She has found Ruthven and Zillah's kill...where I left it,' Harker reported,' I believe she will begin her hunt tonight.' He checked his notes in his hand.

'Excellent.' The Count sounded pleased; maybe he would allow him to see Mina tonight? A small flicker of hope lit in Harker's chest. As if his thoughts had been heard the curtain twitched by his feet. The voice snaked through the air, chilling and seductive.

'You may join us Harker.' The lascivious chuckle at the end of the comment left Harker almost running for the door.

'Ah, I must make sure that all is in readiness for your great work, Master.' Harker hoped his revulsion could not be heard in his voice. The curtain fell with a sigh.

'Very well Harker. You may leave.' Harker left, crushing the hope that had been kindled in his heart, hoping Mina would please the Count and that she would live another night. He had lived like this night after night. Wishing that his wife would satisfy that...monster so that she would live, live long enough for Harker to rescue her but he had failed every time. And every time he knew Dracula would require more... humiliations to salve his ego. Living like this was no life at all. Harker left silently to visit the new captive. He hoped the two lovers would fare better than he.

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Blake fastened the Firestar, a compact 9mm revolver she liked to use, into the holster she kept strapped to her thigh. The tight dress would reveal the weapon but she was hoping that the deep, plunging neckline would distract anyone from taking a close look anywhere else. She'd arrived that afternoon after a tip off from an Englishman which had come with a plane ticket to Rome. The body of the young boy was exactly where he said it would be. Poor bastard, Blake thought to herself as she took in the smooth baby skin, the blonde hair falling around his face, the wide staring innocent eyes, glassy in death. She checked her makeup in the mirror before picking up her small leather purse. In it she had two stakes, a silver cross and a vial of Holy Water. You could never be too careful, she thought, especially with foreign vamps.

The club was about twenty minutes walk from the hotel and she made it there in good time. She spoke with the young mortal waiter and he informed her that the two she was hunting weren't going to be there that night as she had been told. This threw her; she didn't like it when a plan went its own way. A quick call on her cell to the Englishman gave her a new location of the two she was seeking. The Englishman was quite insistent that she did it tonight. She reckoned he had been the lover of the murdered boy and wanted revenge. She smiled into the handset. No problem, she assured the client. With what he was paying for this one job she'd be able to take a vacation when she got home.

The graveyard was the usual creepy joint. Tombs fallen in and lots of ivy. Blake slipped off her heels and stuffed them in her purse. When she reached the door of the Polidori crypt she reached into her bag and quietly brought out the Holy Water, then she reached for her gun.

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Zillah raised a hand to silence the others. Ruthven and Harry stopped their arguing and looked up. Zillah had heard someone outside. Harry's first thought was that it was someone from Dracula and he rose, taking out his wand as he moved stealthily towards the door. Zillah's cold powerful hand stopped him and held him back.

They'd spent all day pouring over the map which Harry had bought that afternoon. He'd been back to the house and picked up Edward's scent with his magic. It had been easy enough to trace but every step had been like a knife in his heart. Knowing that he was getting nearer and nearer to Edward but that he had to go back to Ruthven was torture. But he knew it was the right thing to do. He was no match for Dracula alone and especially as the Count seemed also to have a powerful wizard in his employ. How else could they have taken Edward?

Ruthven had been confident and this had made Harry more hopeful. Zillah wanted to enlist more help and this was still undecided. Ruthven favoured just the three of them. More, he explained, always meant chance of betrayal. Look at all the successful criminals in history; he had expounded gesturing wildly, never more than three. It was then that Zillah had made his sign that he had heard someone outside.

Zillah moved with utter silence to the edge of the door. Harry saw his nostrils flair and then he flashed behind them. Why the tomb had a back door Harry had no idea and it was likely their attacker didn't either. That was where Zillah had gone.

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Blake felt the rush of air seconds before Zillah was on her. She splashed the Holy Water in his face. Zillah began to scream and then to laugh. Blake was horrified. Zillah, pre Christian Roman that he was, felt nothing from the Holy Water. He batted the hand holding out the silver cross aside and put strong white fingers around her throat. She fumbled for the gun, but Zillah brought down his wrist in a lethal karate chop which met Blake's arm with a sickening snap. She screamed. Her last sight in the world was Zillah's impossibly beautiful mouth bending to her neck. She felt the bite, the sweet sting of his fangs and lost consciousness.

Ruthven and Harry rushed outside at the scream. They were just in time to see Zillah hungrily sucking at the young woman's neck. Her limp body jigged comically as Zillah's strong jaws worked at the wound he had made. He dropped her and wiped his lips, grinning broadly. Harry ran to the woman's body. It was clear she was dead, her body drained and pale in the moonlight. He couldn't believe what he had seen. Zillah and Ruthven were killers. They just happened to want to help him. He had to keep that thought in the forefront of his mind.

Ruthven was looking through the woman's wallet. He found a license card.

'Anita Blake, vampire hunter.' He read shrugging up at Zillah. 'Zillah, you naughty boy.'

Zillah grinned, his teeth slicked with blood.

'They don't make them like they used to.' His shark grin widened.' Now, give me a Slayer any day of the week.'


	21. Chapter 21

Edward came round lying on a wide bed, covered with a red velvet throw. For a moment his mind rebelled against consciousness, it had been too long since Edward had enjoyed sleep and his body clung to the feeling with regret. His eyes opened and he quickly scanned the room for threats. As far as he could see there were none. The room was clearly hewn from rock and probably underground; despite his body's own chill the room felt cold to him. The furniture although sparse was lavish. The bed he lay on was a four poster, hung about with the same red velvet beneath him. Tiny golden dragons were embroidered onto the fabric. The chair was upholstered in the same way and set in front of a small writing desk and there was a wash stand with a bowl and jug, no mirror. There was also no window. Only a door, of thick wood and with an opening covered by a lattice of iron bars. There was no handle on the inside. So, a prison then, he thought. Just then he heard a voice whispering.

'Oi, mate!' The voice seemed to be coming from outside the door. Edward crossed the room, it seemed that whoever had made it from the rock had not expected it to house tall guests, and bent down to peer through the barred opening. Through the bars he could see a young man of about twenty. He was bending to see through the door too and his hair was short and bleached a startling blonde. His face was sharp and he was obviously trying to attract Edward's attention without drawing any notice from anyone else who might be nearby. Guards, wondered Edward as he smiled across to the other man.

'Hello,' Edward's voice sounded remarkably calm under the circumstances. His companion seemed quite amused at this.

'All right?' he said chirpily, 'so, what you in for mate?' From somewhere about his person he found a cigarette and, noisily striking a match on the stone wall, lit it with some satisfaction.

'I really have no idea,' explained Edward, 'one moment I was at home and then... here.' He didn't' want to tell this man too much. He realised this was probably Dracula's doing and he didn't know who he could trust.

'Bloody hell,' his new friend nodded. Was he English? Edward found comfort in the fact even though this man's voice sounded much more...earthy than Harry's.

'Yeah,' agreed Edward. 'How did you get here?' The young man leant against the doorway.

'Well, long story, Cliff notes is I came here looking for Buffy, that's my bird,' he explained looking up at Edward and puffing on the cigarette before throwing it down and stubbing it out. 'Well, sort of my bird. Anyway, she's in Europe somewhere so I comes 'ere and next I know I'm in this stone box.' He punched the wall to demonstrate his frustration and then winced. 'Ow.'

'Who's Buffy?' Edward wanted to know as much as he could about where he was and who he was with, it would be useful to plan his escape. 'Is she...human?' had he revealed too much? Did the other young man know about vampires? Edward took an experimental sniff in the other cell's direction but he couldn't pick up any scent. It all smelt like blood down here, probably iron ore in the walls.

'Well pal, judging from your snow white tan I'm guessing you're of the fanged persuasion,' the man paused to judge Edward's reaction and when he got none he went on. 'So am I, now you mentions it.' He grinned, 'but yeah, Buffy's a human all right.' There was a slight growl to his voice which Edward understood completely. 'Anyway, you'll meet her later when she does her big rescue bit.' He ended confidently.

'How will she do that?' Edward frowned hoping he hadn't been too offensive.

'Oh, she does that sort of thing, you know.' The answer was evasive. 'What about you? Sweetheart on the other side?'

'Mmm.' Edward nodded.

'Worried about her are you?'

'Him, actually.'

'Oh right,' the other guy didn't miss a beat, 'does he know where you are?'

'No, but he'll be planning a rescue no doubt.' Edward smiled at the thought.

'Powerful is he?' the blonde studied his short nails.

'A wizard.' Edward thought there was no point hiding anymore, Dracula must know all this anyway.

'Right. Magics, know a few powerful witches myself. Well, one. 'He seemed to make up his mind. He stuck a skinny white hand as far through the bars as it would go. 'Spike, to my mates,' he offered, 'William the Bloody to my victims' he grinned. Edward clasped his hand briefly through the bars.

'Edward Cullen,' he smiled.

'Right, so while we're here waiting to be rescued by bloody powerful humans,' he grinned at Edward, 'might as well have a bit of a chat.'

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Edward wasn't sure how long they had been talking but now he seemed to know a lot about Spike and a lot about Buffy. It turned out that, along with being something called the Slayer that Edward vaguely remembered hearing about, Buffy didn't actually know where Spike was at all. He hadn't even told her he was coming to visit her. Spike seemed to have a lot of confidence in a young girl. Edward had outlined his experience in that area with Bella. Spike had nodded and agreed that women were 'mad as box of frogs' was exactly how Spike had put it. But they agreed on the fact that their human's having a touch of the supernatural was a plus.

'Especially in the bed department, if you know what I mean,' winked Spike. Edward nodded, obviously mortified at the conversation. Spike's guffaw of laughter had been raucous and robust.

'How did you become a vampire?' Edward asked eager to change the subject. Spike's story was a long one, full of powerful emotion but a couple of the smaller points took Edward by surprise.

'You mean you burn up in the sun?' he asked incredulously. Spike looked offended.

'Yeah, like toast. Don't you?' he added suspiciously. Edward shook his head. 'Hang on a minute, how does that bloody well work?' Spike was confused. So was Edward.

'My skin...glitters in the sun, that's why I don't go outside. All my family are the same. I've never met any vampires to whom the sun is fatal. I thought it was just myth.' Spike frowned in thought.

'You have these though don't you?' he asked shaking his head. The face that looked back at Edward was a frightening parody of the man Edward had just been sharing stories with for the last few hours. The brow was deeply furrowed and the whole shape of the nose was now distorted. More worrying still was Spike's teeth. He had two long, sharp looking fangs now. Edward's jaw dropped.

'No,' he replied hoarsely. 'Nothing like that. I... my teeth and... Er... face don't change at all when I...feed.' Spike shook his head briefly and his face went back to looking human, Edward was still astonished.

'You do drink blood right?' Spike sounded sarcastic. 'I mean, we've not got off on the wrong foot here have we? You're not in some role playing club pretending to be a vampire?' a scathing note entered his voice. Edward growled lightly in his throat and Spike's face brightened.' Now, that's more like it mate!' he crowed.

'Yes, I do drink blood and I have drunk the blood of humans but now I feed from animals. Whatever I can hunt.' Edward's tone was flat, his mind was racing.

'Me too,' agreed Spike, 'especially since I got my soul back. Slippery little buggers souls are...' he was about to continue when Edward interrupted him.

'You lost your soul?! When?' Spike looked annoyed.

'When I became a vampire obviously, that's when the demon enters your body and...' Edward held up a hand.

'Wait. A demon? I've never heard of this before. I think I still have my soul, that's why I don't kill humans.' His mind ran along its path of reasoning. 'How do crosses affect you? Holy Water?'

'Sting like a bastard is how they affect me, pal.' Spike winced slightly to demonstrate his point. 'You?'

'Nothing. I thought it was just a myth again, like the sunlight thing.' Spike gave a low whistle.

'Two different sorts of vampire. Bloody hell I didn't see that one coming.' Edward nodded.

'Maybe not just two Spike. How many of these cells do you think there are?' Spike glanced along the corridor.

'Seven or eight, I'd guess.' He shrugged, 'why?' Edward leant close to the bars and whispered.

'How many vampire stories do you know Spike? That you've always thought were just made up to make us more frightening to the humans? What about changing into bats? Mist? Controlling animals and storms.' This last thought stirred a memory. 'That's what Dracula did when Harry turned him down Spike! He sent a storm after us!' Edward's whisper became fiercer as his wrestled with what all this might mean. 'What if all those stories are true Spike? What if there are lots of different vampires and Dracula wants to learn about us all. Maybe even figure out how to have all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses?'

Spike rested his blonde head heavily against the bars.

'Jesus wept,' he whispered, 'Buffy's going to throw a fit.'


	22. Chapter 22

It seemed that there were more differences than either Spike or Edward could have imagined. Mirrors, sunlight, silver; Christian artefacts all seemed to bother Spike's type of vampire. Edward's mind was beginning to categorise the differences as though he and Spike were different breeds of the same species. Maybe that was what it was? Either way it seemed odd that they were only finding this out now. Did the same breeds stick together avoiding others who might not have the same rules, the same boundaries. Edward dearly wished he could discuss this with Carlisle, who no doubt would be fascinated by the discovery. The thought made him think of home. Had Alice foreseen what had happened to him? Was she in Rome now? With a sigh Edward remembered telling her not to look for him in her visions. The chances were she knew nothing.

Spike had gone quiet too. Obviously the revelations of the conversation had got him thinking too. He'd talked to Edward about the Initiative, how they'd held him, and various other demons, in their pristine cells. This was a bit like the Initiative he figured, just more olde worlde charm. The first night he'd been there he'd smashed up all the furniture, ripped up the plush fabrics. They had just been replaced. He'd torn the place up three times before he got bored with the lack of reaction he was getting.

Footsteps down the corridor brought them both out of their thoughts. They'd agreed that they would stick together. If one of them was getting out, they both were. Two tall female guards appeared in front of Edward's door. Their pale blonde hair was pulled back into severe ponytails. Their uniforms consisted of leather armour embossed with the dragon insignia which was all over the place. Edward wondered if Dracula ever got fed up of doodling his name all over everything. He grinned to himself; maybe he should ask the Count. These women, however, were not to be trifled with by the pallor of their skin they must be vampires too. Spike was trying to get a rise out them, wolf whistling and making lewd suggestions. They ignored him completely. One took out a single key, fitted it to the lock and entered Edward's cell. She grabbed his arm. Edward was about to pull away but the grip of the guard made him think twice. She was obviously very old, very old and strong.

He was pulled out of the room and then walked down the corridor away from the cells.

'Break something for me!' shouted Spike behind him Edward grinned over his shoulder as the women swept his feet from the floor as their quickened their pace.

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They left him in a large cave, done out like some kind of medieval throne room. The walls were dimly lit by torches and there were beds and cushions along the edges of the room. In the centre of the room was a round curtained off area. The curtains bore the insignia Edward was expecting to see everywhere. The room was utterly silent. The guards left although Edward didn't see a door. He walked a circle around the curtains, they obviously hid something from view, and it was also obvious that he was supposed to guess what it was behind them. It was then he heard the noise.

It sounded like a whimper, like a small child in pain or fear. Edward's ears picked up every nuance of the sound and he'd pulled back the curtain before he could really think. He knew from his reading that Dracula was not beyond feeding children to his minions. The curtains pulled back to reveal a wide bed, covered in black velvet. There seemed to be movement under the coverlet, a body or two bodies maybe? Edward was backing away, almost beyond the curtains when the noise happened again. This time the sound seemed to be a notch up on the fear and pain. The movement under the covers of the bed seemed urgent. In a stride Edward had reached the bed and pulled the cover back, ready to rescue or fight for the child he had heard making such a pathetic and pitiful sound. There was no child.

Instead there were three, very beautiful boys. They were snaked around each other in desire and before Edward could get away one of them curled a pale grip around his hand. He looked down at his captor. The boy had the bluest eyes he had ever seen. The lashes were long and dark and the ebony hair which fell to his shoulders sharply reminded Edward of Harry. The mouth was voluptuous and scarlet with lust. He bent the lips to Edward's hand and kissed the fingers, lingering at the tips.

'Don't go,' he whispered. Edward wanted to scream; to fling the hand away and run away, back to the cells and to Spike. But he couldn't. He simply could not move. His mind was frantic with panic. He had to run, he willed his muscles but they felt like they were filled with cement. Too heavy and sluggish. He looked down at the boy again. Now the youth knelt on the edge of the bed and Edward could see he was much younger than his friends still entwined on the bed. Edward felt distracted by them, what were they doing? He tried to discern which leg belonged to which boy, which hand to which, but he couldn't make it out. The bed was a tangle of exotic limbs, twisted and writhing.

The youngest boy wrapped his arms around Edward's neck drawing him closer. His eyes were hypnotic; they pulled Edward down deep into their spell, drowning him in their seduction. He felt the mouth move closer to his, felt the smooth, cold surface of the lips as they pressed against his mouth. His mouth opened, involuntarily, and a tongue as cool and twisting as the boys on the bed entered his mouth and snaked across his teeth, savouring the venom dripping from them. Edward wanted to stop. His brain screamed at him to move, get away and instead he felt his hand running through the boy's raven hair pulling him closer and deeper into the kiss. When the boy pulled away, he was smiling.

He ran his cold tongue down Edward's neck, unfastening his shirt as he lowered himself down and down. Edward's body responded in desire as his mind was reeling in revulsion. God, what was he doing? He had to stop. His hand curled in the boy's hair and he felt the delicious sting of teeth on his most sensitive skin. He moaned aloud. He looked down at the kneeling boy. From this angle it could have been Harry kneeling in front of him. Harry's mouth sliding over his skin... Harry, Edward gripped the boy's hair with his fists. Obviously misunderstanding the gesture the boy increased his efforts. Edward pulled the boy's head away from him and staggered back, covering himself with his hands in a gesture of shame. The boy looked back at Edward, the ocean blue eyes mesmerising and intense. Edward fought his body for control.

'No!' Edward's voice was loud, angry but the word ended on a sob. His body wanted more, wanted this gorgeous boy to tip him over the edge, to fall with abandon at his feet. His mind stayed firm. 'No.' He said stronger this time.

The boy licked his lips, the gesture obscene on one so young. 'Come to me Edward,' he breathed. Edward heard his name; it felt dirty on those lips. In an instant he realised who this boy was, this breathtaking and indecent creature.

'Dracula. No.' Edward staggered back from the curtains. He fell into a stumbling run. The female guards appeared beside him and hauled him back to the dais. Dracula was draping himself in a velvet coverlet only half covering his decency. He sprawled back on the bed, the pale hands of his companions stroking and fluttering over him.

'You're a fool Edward,' the young voice, barely broken sounded sweet but the words dripped menace.' Your boy wizard will not refuse me so easily.' The stunning mouth split into a sneer. The effect on the angelic face was disturbing. His causally picked up one of the roaming hands and dropped it in his lap where it began to stroke him into arousal. He leaned back further onto the bed, dismissing Edward, the guards.

'You're wrong Dracula, Harry will see through you too.' Edward's voice sounded more confident as he felt as he was pulled to the side of the chamber and thrown down on one of the cushions. From the centre of the room the noises rose in tempo.


	23. Chapter 23

Zillah had wanted to invite some of his old associates along but in the end he had bowed to Ruthven's reasoning. The three of them getting into Dracula's lair was going to be complicated enough, even with Harry's magic. Finding it had been the easy part.

Now Harry found himself at the mouth of the biggest cave he'd ever imagined. The rock twisted and gouged by the elements and dwindling off into to a gap barely big enough for his thin body to wriggle through. The journey here had been terrifying. The thin light from his wand had thrown shadows on the walls, stretching out the stalactites which clung to the ceiling. At any moment they threatened to become the Count himself, or his minions. Ruthven had tried to tell Harry as much as he could about Dracula but it wasn't much. He'd shown him a picture; a rough wood cut of a man in a funny coned hat with a big moustache and then told him that this probably wasn't what Dracula looked like, only what he had allowed the people to think he looked like. Zillah had told him stories of the things that Dracula had done. Things that had chilled Harry's blood. Now in the twisting shadows of the cave Harry felt that evil and inhumanity he had felt in the storm. It seemed like days ago since he had seen Edward and he was beginning to wonder if he was exaggerating how Edward felt about him. Without the reassurances from Edward it was hard to believe someone that amazing could really be in love with him. The cave roof swept down before him and he left his thoughts to concentrate on wriggling between the jagged rocks.

The room he crawled into was huge. The high dome of the cave had been smoothed and its polished surface swirled and curved above him. The room was lit by sconces attached to the walls and Harry could just about see in the dim light that there were what looked like beds lining the edges of the room. He seemed to be alone. His breathing sounded loud in the echoing cavern.

He noticed that there were some sweeping curtains in the centre of the room. He approached them carefully. They seemed to create a small room, somewhere private, secluded from the outside vastness of the cavern. There was something comforting about the idea of hiding from the wide expanse of the rest of the hall. Harry waved his wand to move the curtains aside. There was a figure on the bed, even with the head turned away Harry could see it was Edward.

'Edward,' he gasped reaching for the vampire's shoulder. Edward turned his golden hair catching the flickering torchlight that dimly lit the cavern. His smile was brilliant and his arms reached out for Harry's embrace.

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Edward watched in anguish as Harry held Dracula to him. Couldn't Harry see what he was doing? The look of delight on Harry's face cut Edward to his core. Surely this hadn't all been an act? Had Harry really said all those things, done all those things just to lure his to Dracula? Edward caught the whisper of his name. No, Edward's heart sank and his stomach went colder still. Harry thought Dracula was Edward. He'd been glamoured. Dracula had made Harry think that he was Edward!

Harry held Edward close, relishing the feel of the cold hard body beside him. He grasped his thick hair and pulled his face towards him, kissing him passionately. Edward's tongue stole into Harry's mouth and Harry was surprised by the force of desire in his body. He pulled Edward beneath him and kissed back deeply. Harry felt so happy, so complete. Edward did love him. They were going to escape and it would all be all right again. He felt Edward move beneath him. Suddenly the vampire was pushing Harry underneath his own hard body. Harry was pinned down with incredible strength and hungry, painful fingers touched his body. Edward seemed wild with desire. Harry felt confused; Edward had never wanted to hurt him before. Even at their most passionate Edward's advances were born out of lust, this felt all wrong, it felt like something else.

Edward's tortured gaze saw Dracula pin Harry's body beneath him. He could only look on while the Count wriggled down Harry's body, his head resting between his thighs. He saw Harry's back stiffen, his hands grabbing the coverlet and was glad he could not see what the Count was doing. He could hear it though. The smacking and slurping sound nauseated him. He longed to shout out, to avert his eyes but they were held with the same sickening hypnotism he had felt early. Dracula wanted him to watch. Watch as he showed Edward what he meant to Harry.

Harry arched under Edward's mouth his desire mingling with a mounting sense of unease. His body urged him on towards orgasm but his mind was alert and wary. He put his hand to Edward's head, trying to gesture to him to slow down, to kiss him again, to reassure him. But Edward ignored the hand, swatting it away and then capturing it and pinning it painfully to the bed. Harry knew at that moment that the creature on the bed with him, the creature sucking and licking at his most intimate parts was not Edward.

'Stupefy!' Harry whispered hoarsely. The creature on the bed looked up at him. Its eyes were not the gentle topaz of Edward's eyes. They were blue like the deepest ocean. It pulled its mouth from him and smiled. It was a sick and lascivious smile. It bent its head to him again. This time Harry shouted, 'STUPEFY!' the creature staggered back from the bed, falling to the floor. Harry watched in horror as its shape rearranged itself into that of a boy much younger than himself. Harry got up, pulling on his clothes and running away from the dais. He had to move before that thing had him in its control again. He fled through the only door he could see.

Edward fell back on the cushions, feeling Dracula's hold on him weaken. Harry had known, he smiled. He had known that that creature wasn't Edward. The Count picked himself up from the floor rage rolling off the frail body like a tidal wave.


	24. Chapter 24

Harry's running slowed as he realised he had no idea where he was going. His desire to flee from the throne room had been instant and he had followed his instinct. Now that the compelling force had gone his brain began to work again. That thing must be Dracula, he reasoned, but he looked so young! In mortal years he must be fifteen, maybe younger? So Zillah had been right about the picture, Dracula had been manipulating the media before there really was one. Harry could see how Dracula had survived the ages, he was cunning. It was the same feeling of survival that Harry had felt in the storm, an animal's instinct to kill or be killed. Harry was glad he had seen through Dracula's plan before it had been too late. He didn't know how but he was sure if he'd let that thing touch him any more he'd be as powerless to resist the Count as was Mina. He shuddered that he'd been so close. His magic curled protectively around him like ivy. He had to find Edward.

The corridor he was on was hewn from the stone, its rough walls and jagged edges made it hard for Harry to go at anything more than a quick walk. He seemed to be going down and down, the floor taking on a subtle gradient as he walked along. The same scones lit the walls in a flickering amber light which made shadows of each of the stones protruding from the walls. Harry could hear a voice in the distance. The voice was singing. Curious Harry slowed his pace and tried to be quiet.

'God save the queeeeeeeeeeeen – ah!' the voice bellowed in a punk sort of way. Harry smiled to himself. The last thing he'd expected to hear down here was the National Anthem! As he approached the singing he could see that there were hollowed out rooms on each side of this corridor. The few he passed seemed empty and dark but ahead he could see light shining from several arched doorways. The lights seemed to be coming from a small portcullis in each door. He crept closer.

'No future, no future, no future for ... oi who's that?' the voice stopped and a steely blue eye cast a glance down the corridor from one of the barred doors. The voice had a cockney accent and this made Harry feel so much more comfortable. He edged nearer to the door. Inside was a tall, skinny blonde man wearing a black leather trench coat. The man looked surprised to see him and Harry watched realisation dawn over his face.

''Arry Potter?' he asked grinning, 'nice to finally meet you. Having heard so much about you!' he waggled his eyebrows expressively and Harry felt himself blush. 'don't you worry about it mate,' the blonde man crowed, 'sounds like you and Edward 'ave 'ad a whale of a time!' he slapped his leg, also clad in black leather and then straightened up, his face serious. 'Listen, you've not run into Eddy boy then? I'm bit worried about him.'

Harry was amazed, this man knew him, knew Edward!

'How did you..?' He trailed off not sure what to ask first.

'Me and Edward shared our stories, through the bars, you might say. He was convinced you were coming to rescue 'im. Before those blonde birds came and took 'im to Dracula that is.' The blonde man tried to look down the corridor, obviously the way Edward had gone. He shook his head. 'I'm Spike, by the way. Charmed I'm sure.' He stuck a skinny hand through the bars, Harry took it numbly.

'Harry Potter,' he mumbled, 'but you already know that. Is Edward all right? I mean, have they hurt him?' the last words were rushed out.

'Dunno mate,' shrugged Spike, ' maybe Drac's trying to get him to join his merry gang, like he did with me, though I can't see how them gorgeous vampire chicks are going to convince Edward...' He looked at Harry's anguished face. 'Oh don't worry; he's your boy all right. Bet he won't lay a finger on them girls.' Spike looked wistful, 'bloody lovely there were though.' He shook his head again, 'no, not your Eddy, he's batting for the other side now.' Harry looked confused and Spike was about to explain when Harry interrupted him.

'Is that what Dracula did? Tried to get you seduced by vampire girls?'

'Yeah, nearly 'ad me too if one of em 'adn't been a bit blonde like Buffy, and that got me thinking and then, no I turned em down. Pretty pissed off 'e was too, the count. Did he try the birds on you? Did you get a look at that brunette's...?' Harry shook his head.

'No girls. Just Dracula, looking like Edward.' He added risking an eye at Spike's expression. Spike whistled.

'Oooh nasty nasty, 'he shook his head in sympathy, 'did 'e... I mean did you?' Harry shook his head. Spike let out a breath.

'Phew. Close one there eh mate? Wonder if that's what he tried on Ed...' his voice trailed off as he caught Harry's expression. 'Sorry, I'm sure he didn't. Ed'll be fine.' He tried to pat Harry's shoulder through the bars. 'Look, could you?' he mimed waving a wand,' these doors you know?'

Harry pointed his wand at the lock on the door 'Alohomora!' he commanded. The door swung open. Harry frowned. If Dracula had a powerful wizard at his command why weren't the doors bewitched? Maybe they hadn't been expecting him to get this far.

'Come on,' Spike was already moving along the corridor 'we might need to get these guys out too.' Which guys? Harry hurried after the blonde vampire who was stopping outside some of the cells and checking their occupants. Harry looked through the nearest door to him.

Inside sat a young woman with an unearthly beauty. She looked to be barely seventeen but Harry guessed from her pale skin and absolute stillness that she was far older than her appearance showed. Her pale face was composed and her fine eyebrows rose slightly as she saw Harry peering through the door. Her long blonde hair fell to her waist and she pushed it back impatiently with long, slender fingers as she rose and glided to the door. Harry stepped back and saw what? as she bent to put her lips to the bars.

'Set me free,' she whispered seductively. 'Please.' This last word would have melted the hardest heart and Harry felt himself raise his wand without thinking.

'Cut it out Carmilla,' snapped Spike, 'we'll free you as soon as we get Sir Francis 'ere out!' he thumbed a gesture to the cell next to him. Inside was a very ugly little man, who sat with his head in his hands. He seemed to be upset.

'Put a sock in it mate and 'urry up.' Spike was scolding him. Harry could hear the man mumbling 'don't deserve to escape, don't deserve to live'. Spike turned to Harry.

'This,' he gestured again with his thumb, 'is Sir Francis Varney. 'E's always like this but a useful bloke to 'ave around, on account of his great vampire strength.' Harry opened the door with his wand. The ugly man sighed and got up with an air of desolation. He shrugged his shoulders at Harry and sighed again.

'Now your turn darlin',' Spike turned to the cell of the beautiful woman. 'Come on 'Arry, get Carmilla's door open.' Harry pointed his wand in the direction of the young woman's door. It swung open. Carmilla swept forward as though she was a mist. She bent to touch Harry's cheek with her beautiful cold lips.

'Thank you, 'she breathed, 'I had tried to get through the door as mist but there seemed to be a barrier.'

'You can become a mist?' Spike grabbed Carmilla's arm and swung her to face him, 'is there anything else you can do?' Carmilla shrugged off Spike's hand and smiled at Harry. 'Look you're not his type love and from what I remember he's not yours either.' Carmilla slowly turned to face him. Her voice was chill.

'I can walk about during the day and I can transform myself into a mist or a black cat. Is that the sort of thing you wanted to know?' Her smile was not friendly. Spike slapped her arm and grinned.

'Perfect,' he said striding off down the corridor. 'Come on; let's see who else is down 'ere!'


	25. Chapter 43

Edward was dragged to the dais. The curtains were open and Dracula lay draped along the cushions. He had the face of an angel, mused Edward as he took in the long lashes, the high curved cheekbones, the red lips. He was naked and the velvet throw contrasted sharply with his pale, vampire skin. Edward tried to avert his eyes, there was something beautiful and deadly in that body, he reminded himself. The Count raised his head and at his gaze Edward forgot all he had been thinking. He felt his body becoming pliant to Dracula's will but his mind fought for control.

'Kneel,' the soft lips whispered and Edward felt himself sinking to his knees. His head was now level with the surface of the bed. All around Dracula was the scent of blood and sex, Edward's control was slipping. He frowned, trying to pull himself together. Dracula chuckled softly as he noticed this effort.

'Relax, 'he murmured, 'I could make you do much worse Edward. Or better.' He added smiling lasciviously. He laughed as the muscles in Edward's neck tightened. One slim hand came forward and gripped Edward's chin painfully. Dracula lay along the bed, his head inches from Edward's and looked into Edward's eyes.

Edward felt the movement inside him, how the vampire inside stretched and purred under Dracula's gaze. His body was hot, impossibly hot and he hardened in desire. His eyes were wide, his brain telling him to look away, break the deadly, seductive gaze. But the creature in him, long subdued and hidden growled its refusal to let go of his body. He felt his humanity slipping away like the tide going out and he flexed his fingers to try to hold on to it, but it was hopeless.

Dracula's smile widened, his sharp teeth stabbing into his full lower lip.

'There's a good boy,' he purred, it sent delicious shivers up Edward's spine, his whole body bending towards Dracula like a bow, taut and humming with lust. Edward knew that if Dracula touched him now, it would be all over. Nothing, not Harry, nor his family, not years of carefully cultivated civilisation would be able to control the beast inside him.

'Edward, I don't want you,' Dracula's voice was low,' but if I asked you to you would beg for me wouldn't you?' Edward nodded grimly, he couldn't do anything else. The shame of this truth burned across his body but it only served to make the longing pain sweeter.

'I've watched you Edward, with your boy.' Dracula continued into hold Edward's gaze. It was worse than being naked; Edward's mind skittered and shied away from the contact of Dracula's power like a frightened horse.

'I've seen the great beast inside you and that's how I have this control over you, Edward. Your vampire self, not that snivelling, guilt ridden human muzzle you make it wear.' His hand reached out and stoked slowly down Edward's face, his neck, his torso. Edward moaned and his body bent itself even further to Dracula's touch, like a cat reaching up to be petted. Dracula smiled again.

'This is how I survived Edward, by being that beast. I am a killer more cunning than you can imagine. Other vampires have their petty feuds but I have been playing this game for longer than you can dream of Edward. Long before the name Vlad Tepes, before countries were formed or alliances made. I became this beast as a human child, Edward, civility and humanity had not yet settled on these shoulders. Watch a child, it is an animal, its cruelty is unsurpassed. One learns to be human Edward, I did not. I am as I was first made, but I have had centuries of honing my skills, sharpening my wits. I have no need for others. They are amusement. You think that other vampires are powerful? The Volturi?' the eyes narrowed and Edward saw the animal crouched before him in that angelic body. 'I would devour the Volturi Edward and lick my fingers clean before they could perform any of their tricks.' Looking into Dracula's eyes Edward could see the simple truth in these statements. These were not boasts of power. Dracula simply was this creature, a creature capable of inspiring greater fear and performing more cruelty than Edward had ever witnessed before.

'If I asked you to, Edward, you would tear that boy wizard limb from limb and join me drinking his blood.' The mention of Harry's blood made Edward's throat burn with thirst. His mind was shutting down; soon he would belong to the Count. His body thrummed and throbbed with desire.

'Edward?' the voice was raised, questioning. Edward couldn't help himself, he had to respond.

'Yes?' he choked back the word 'master', snapping his teeth shut so that the word wouldn't spill over his lips. His voice sounded far off and dry. Dracula smiled at the reluctance in Edward's answer. The longing in Edward's body increased. He didn't know how much more he could take. He felt like a fly dangling in painful ecstasy in Dracula's web. Just bite me, kill me, he thought desperately. He needed release, any sort of release.

'Why do you sparkle in the sunlight like a jewel?' the voice was deceptively soft and loving. Edward felt himself answer before he could stop himself.

'I don't know,' his voice was only a whisper now, the faculty of speech was leaving him. He felt the animal inside him stretch out into its new shape, felt its joy at the freedom it had long craved. Soon it would be completely free and Edward Cullen would be no more. Part of him wanted it more than he could ever have imagined.

Dracula's hand was in Edward's hair, pulling his head back, exposing his throat. The blue eyes held Edward's gaze and the mouth opened, Edward couldn't remember anything more beautiful in his life. It bent towards his throat. As the sharp, hard teeth penetrated the skin, as the thick blood pumped from his open vein, Edward cried out in ecstasy. His body shuddered, Dracula's grip on him exquisite in its pain and pleasure. He felt Dracula possess his body and his mind, the Count swept through his carefully maintained civility as though it were a cobweb. The pleasure did not end; it coursed through him, never dwindling from its high peak, racking his body with ardour and sacrifice. He felt Dracula drinking his blood, each swallow brought more of the sweet pain and he wanted to be drunk dry by the terrible beauty of it all. His body cried out to be the victim of this ancient and powerful beast at his throat.

When the Count pulled away, Edward's body fell weakly to the floor. His limbs felt like the dead man he had believed himself to be. The glorious union he had felt left him and he felt hollow and used.

Dracula stood up and gestured imperiously to the young man who emerged from the shadows of the curtains.

'Do it.' There was utter command in his voice. The young man brought from his long jacket a small box. His trembling fingers lifted the delicate catch and, as the box opened, light poured forth from the open lid. It could only be sunlight, thought Edward weakly looking up at the scene above him. The light played on the gold embroidery of the curtains, on the jewelled coverlet, on the blue eyes of the Count as he looked down at his arm which he stretched out to catch the golden rays. But when the light that fell on Dracula's skin there was no lustre, glitter or shine. It illuminated dully the white flesh, highlighting its deathly pallor. Dracula closed his eyes as though weary. His arm flashed down and his hand caught the cheek of the young man holding the open the box. The youth fell heavily to the ground the box rattling away across the stone floor.

'You said it would work Harker!' the Count's voice sounded like harsh scre


	26. Chapter 26

Ruthven and Zillah were lounging on cushions in the Great Hall. They were sunk deep into the plush fabrics, hiding from sight. Occasionally they had had to blend in with the general orgiastic atmosphere of the other occupants. It hadn't been a problem. Ruthven had spotted Edward over the other side of the wide cavern. He seemed to be unharmed but the blonde woman warrior who stood over him indicated he was not free to move about. They had both heard the exchange he had with Dracula. It had been disturbing and strangely erotic. Ruthven hoped that Harry would be sympathetic when he heard the story; Edward hadn't had much choice in the matter.

Zillah had been watching Jonathan and Mina Harker. They never left their places beside the curtained dais. Occasionally a white hand would beckon and one or both of them would disappear into the Dracula's presence. The room seemed filled with an air of despair which could only belong to the couple. Jonathan Harker seemed quite young but Zillah was certain that this was all sorcery. He'd met many magicians in his time and he recognised the peculiar tang of magic in the air. It had been his idea to hide in plain sight, right here in Dracula's hall. If it came to a show down, here would be where the action was. He settled back down next to Ruthven who was toying with the gold tassling of the cushions. As the second blonde guard swept the room with her steel grey eyes he grabbed the startled lord to him in a passionate embrace. He felt the guard's gaze pass over them.

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Dracula's mood was still dark as he leaned back to allow the minion to continue his ministrations. He knew they all felt his anger and he sensed their desire to please him increase accordingly. The air around him was thick with fear and he relished its taste. He would find a way to make the other vampires' powers his own. He needed more time. Harker had informed him that the wizard had made his escape, just as the Count had decided he would. If Potter wouldn't help Dracula willingly then he would allow the boy the freedom to make the discoveries in his own time and simply take them from him. The cruel lips rose in a smile and he felt those around him relax a little. To inject a bit more delicious tension into the air he grasped the hair of the minion crouching over his body, pulling till the boy squealed and squirmed in pain. The smile widened. He decided it was time to let Harker and Edward out of his grasp, just a little.

'Harker,' he gestured with his hand for the wizard to come closer. He smiled to himself to see how Harker feared he would be next in line to receive the Count's affections. 'Take Edward Cullen to the cells. Keep him away from the others. Go now. I need to be alone.' He waved Harker away, dismissing his other attendants.

'Dear Mina,' he purred, 'do stay darling.' Dracula pulled back the fabric covering his lower body, making no effort to conceal his intentions for the wizard's wife. He watched as Jonathan's handsome features twisted in anger and revulsion. This would be enough to encourage him to help Edward escape he decided.

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Edward heard Harker's approach along the smooth stone floor. He watched as the young man, dressed in the impeccable attire of an English Victorian gentleman made his way across to where he was lying. Edward took in the demeanour and attitude of the man. He seemed determined, there was something resolute about his stride, his swinging hand seemed to communicate a decision made, a mind made up. His lips were pressed into a line and his brow furrowed in thought. Edward sat up, eager for some distraction from the hall and its obscene occupants. The lewd behaviour of his companions on the cushions seemed forced and desperate. The whole air reeked with fear and panic. It was driving him out of his mind.

It had taken him hours to take hold of his body again. Now, he felt, he had the beast back in check but he could feel it straining at its chains. The fact that he was hungry did not help. He knew he must look a terrible sight to the young man walking towards him. His clothes crumpled and stained from his ordeal with Dracula, his eyes red with thirst.

'Master Cullen,' the wizard inclined his head slightly showing more respect than Edward had expected from one so close to Dracula. 'Would you please come with me?' He nodded to the blonde guard and she relaxed her stance. It was clear that Harker outranked this woman. He took up a brisk pace towards the door. When they were outside he turned to the guard.

'The Count thanks you for your diligence thus far,' he spoke smoothly. 'He requires you to refresh yourself, hunt and rejoin him in the Great Hall.' The guard was dismissed. Edward could see the confusion and misgiving in her eyes but she bowed briefly and left. Harker turned to Edward.

'Quickly follow me. We have no time to spare.' He ran lightly down the narrow corridor, Edward followed.

It was obvious that Harker knew this place well, without hesitation he took a path which seemed to be leading them down into the rock. Occasionally he glanced nervously behind him, Edward wasn't sure whether this was to check he was still following or to see if they were being followed. Edward knew there was no one following: his hearing could pick up voices far away but they were too indistinct to be nearby. After as few sharp turns Harker stopped in front of a small wooden door. He took from his pocket a silver key fitted it to the lock and opened the door. The room it led to was furnished not unlike Edward's cell but one wall was covered in books. They were rare, antique copies and Edward wondered who had the patience to move them all down here. Harker saw the direction of Edward's gaze and smiled modestly.

'My own humble collection,' he was obviously pleased to show someone,' I have collected these over many years I have been alive.' His face fell at the thought. He pulled himself together.

'But you must have many questions Edward. I would be happy to answer them.' At Edward's puzzled look he went on, 'I saw what the Count did to you last night. I have never seen anyone resist him for so long, it was inevitable that you would fall eventually, but your control was marvellous.' He seemed to know what he was talking about his manner seemed light and nervous. He smiled again at Edward. 'Please, go on, ask away.' He gestured for Edward to sit and he sat down himself in one of the armchairs obviously meant for reading.

Edward's mind clamoured with questions. There was so much he had wondered in his time in Dracula's lair and now here was his opportunity to find out all he could.

'Does Dracula have Harry Potter here somewhere?' He could hardly bring himself to say the name. His shame of the night before felt burned into his skin. Harker nodded.

'Yes, the wizard is in the labyrinth of cells above us,' he went on quickly as he saw Edward poised to leave,' he has escaped his cell. I did not conjure the lock as I was told. No doubt his quick mind will have taken full advantage of my error,' he smiled.

'What does Dracula want us for? Does it have something to do with the different vampire powers?'

Again Harker inclined his head. 'You're wisdom does you credit young man.' For once Edward felt that Harker was not patronising him by the phrase, he was indeed much older than Edward despite his appearance. 'The Count has noticed over his many ears the differences among his kind. He wishes to learn how to combine the strengths and eradicate the weaknesses of all the vampires he has discovered. For example your impervious nature in regard to sunlight. He has spent many years and has carried out many... experiments,' Harker shuddered, 'but to no avail. His drinking of your blood was a vain attempt. Even he knew it would not work but such is his desire for this power that he would try even though he knew the attempt was futile.' Edward understood what Harker was saying, Dracula had just been playing with Edward, that wasn't a serious attempt. The thought made Edward feel colder still.

'How long have you been with him? What is he to you? Are you married to Mina?' The questions came rushing out. Edward didn't know if he's been rude but Harker seemed to expect him to ask. He bowed his head and steepled his fingers together.

'I have been with Dracula for over a hundred and fifty years now. He is my master,' Edward saw the struggle on Harker's face as he said the word. 'Mina is my wife and we love each other very much. Many times Mina has begged me to forget her, to find another who would not cause me so much pain but ... I cannot Edward. I think you understand.' He looked up into Edward's topaz eyes and Edward saw the pain burned into Harker's brown eyes. Edward ran his hand through his hair and stood up.

'Have you tried to escape?' The question came out more harshly than he had meant it but Harker understood that Edward's brusqueness was born out of frustration. He merely nodded. Edward understood that Harker would not leave Mina. Dracula knew that too.

'Is this what he wants for us? For Harry and I?' Edward was pacing the small room, his hands in his thick hair.

'I believe so Edward.' Harker's response was barely a whisper. 'I am getting old and I cannot maintain the magic the Count requires for much longer. He must replace me or lose some of the comforts he so enjoys. He becomes bored of Mina. Without my jealousy his pleasures are cold.' Harker sounded like a beaten man. He stood up, taking a deep breath. 'But I will not let it happen Edward! I will not! I swear upon my honour.' He held out his hand to Edward. Edward clasped it in his own and he felt the resolution in the handshake.

'Take me to Harry.' Edward asked plainly. Harker nodded and led Edward from the room.

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Above in the labyrinth of cells Harry wondered how he'd got into this mess. There seemed to be no cohesion to the group of vampires Spike had set free. No one could agree on how to proceed and now Carmilla seemed to be sulking with the other aristocratic looking female vampire while Spike argued with Sir Francis and another younger looking vampire with an Irish accent.

'Look Mick,' Spike was saying aggressively pointing at the young man's chest, 'I've been biting necks while you were still running around at Ypres playing soldiers!' The Irish vampire growled threateningly in his throat.

'Look, mate,' he growled, his accent strong with emotion, 'I need to get back to Bristol. There's people relying on me. I'm not interested in your power posturing.' It looked like it might come to blows. Sir Francis stood back cringing.

'Why are we letting these _men_,' the aristocratic vampire sneered the word through her elegant lips, 'make _any_ decisions at all?' She arched an eyebrow at Harry. 'We should let the boy decide. He has an air of authority.' She ended.

'Er, thanks Lady Elizabeth,' mumbled Harry as all vampire eyes swivelled to glare at him. 'Right.' God, he sounded like Ron. Ron, thought Harry, Ron and Hermione, what are they doing now? He dearly wished he'd left them that message now. He wondered if they were worrying about him. He hoped they didn't decide to do something stupid like rescue him.

'Right,' he said more clearly,' Spike and Mitchell?' The young Irish vampire nodded at his name. 'As you have the most experience in fighting,' Spike laughed, 'you go ahead and scope out the way to the throne room. If you see the female guards fall back, understood?' the two vampires nodded now, united in their task. 'Lady Elizabeth and Carmilla, you are our best hope with the guards,' Harry went on ignoring the sniggers from Mitchell and Spike, 'take over once we get to the throne room. Get us passed those women however you can.' More sniggers and a glare from Harry. 'Sir Francis, stay with me in the middle. Ok,' he looked around at his merry band of independent, bloodthirsty creatures of the night and sighed. 'Let's go.'

Mitchell and Spike took off so quietly that they blended into the shadows of the corridor. Harry saw them stop at the bend and Mitchell indicted silently that he would go on ahead. Spike frowned but nodded. They seemed to be making a pretty good team thought Harry.

From the corridor came the sounds of a muffled and dangerous fight. Mitchell had been ambushed. Growling indicated that the attacker was a vampire and Harry rounded the corner to find Mitchell pinned to the floor while another vampire held him down with sharp, white teeth at his throat. The attacking vampire seemed very strong and angry. He also had auburn hair that Harry would know anywhere.

'Edward!' in his joy at seeing his lover Harry forgot all his doubts about the relationship. Before he could rush over his brain made him stop with a thought. It might not be Edward.

The vampire that looked like Edward stood up from where Mitchell was sprawled obviously still winded. He took swift strides and grabbed Harry up in a powerful, crushing embrace. He grabbed the raven hair and kissed him long and hard on the mouth. There were tears in his eyes.

'I thought I'd lost you.' Edward whispered fiercely into Harry's ear. Harry grabbed the tawny hair and pulled Edward into another kiss.

'Never,' he whispered back into Edward's mouth. They stood holding each other, running impatient hands over each other's arms, shoulders, hair, kissing and crying and smiling.

'Ahem,' Spike coughed,' touching as it is like, but... when you boys have quite finished 'Grope Fest 2009...' They fell apart laughing. A man stepped out from behind Edward; it was Harker. Harry grabbed Edward and pulled him behind him, pulling his wand from inside his jacket and pointing it menacingly at the strangely dressed young man. Harker took out his own wand and, laying it in his palm, offered it to Harry.

'I mean you no harm young wizard.' He said solemnly.


	27. Chapter 27

Dracula waited like a spider at the edge of the complicated web he had spun. His enemies were so predictable. After millennia it was easy to find the empathy which allowed his to read their actions and their personalities. It was a gift that had kept him alive so long, as was the talent to crush the emotions when necessary for survival. He had carefully chosen his informant, one who would not be recognised as such. They knew when to strike and how to strike, he had taught them well.

He lay back among the embellished cushions confident in his supremacy over the situation. The vampire gifts could all be his and then what a formidable predator he would be! He allowed his mind to day dream of walking in the sunlight, not weakened by its rays, and plucking to feed upon the ripest human from their very homes. He imagined the power to read thoughts, use venom to weaken his victims, be impervious to crosses and Holy Water. Indeed this was a quest worthy of his great intellect and now he had found the perfect resource to work it out for him. Dracula allowed himself a smile as he thought of his grand orchestration and how this would lead him to glory.

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Spike hurried back to the group.

'It looks like there's some kind of store down there for...' he hesitated looking at Harry,' er...food.' it took Harry a moment to realise what he was saying. Of course Dracula must feed his minions Harry just hadn't considered how. A small noise from Edward caught Harry's attention. The vampire's face was contorted in a pained expression. Harry realised it was hunger, Edward hadn't hunted in days. Spike carried on talking.

'The others are wondering, well... we're wondering if we can stop to replenish ourselves.' He grimaced at his own choice of euphemism.

'I can't tell you what to do Spike but you need to know that I will not look kindly on the rest of our company snacking on humans.' Edward sounded strained. Spike nodded.

'These humans seem to be quite up for it. I mean, I think that's what they signed on for. I think they might even get paid for it.' He shook his head at Dracula's audacity.

'Still, I will not condone this.' Edward was grave

'What about Mitchell? He doesn't feed on humans does he?' Harry asked his brow furrowed in thought. 'And what about you Spike? Do you feed on human blood?' Spike shrugged.

'Mitchell doesn't _like _to feed on humans but he still has to from time to time, he'd prefer a blood bag.' Spike looked into Edward's quizzical eyes, 'he works at a hospital you know, back in Bristol.' Edward nodded once. 'And I... well I haven't fed from a human for ages but there's nothing else down here and... I'm starving.' He looked apologetic but resolute. 'If these humans don't mind then...maybe we could free them afterwards, if that's what they want? You know, like a barter system?'

Harry could see that Edward was about to order Spike not to feed and he knew that would just enrage Spike's anarchistic sensibilities. He had to keep the group together somehow; they were each other's only chance of escaping Dracula.

'Go ahead Spike.' He felt Edward's sharp look and carried on, 'each...man for himself. Explain that Edward won't be joining them and that I won't be there. But they're welcome to do as their consciences dictate.' Spike nodded quickly and was gone. Edward turned to Harry.

'You shouldn't have done that.' Edward's whisper was harsh and angry. Harry flinched from the criticism; he's never been very good at being criticised. He sighed.

'I can't tell them what to do Edward. They will just leave if I do. It's been hard enough keeping them together as it is. Vampires are independent souls Edward, you should know that. They don't take kindly to authority being pushed on them.' Edward nodded but was silent. Harry grabbed Edward's cold hand, his magic flaring out around them, stroking Edward's tense shoulders and neck. He watched as Edward relaxed a little, a small smile playing on his lips.

'I'm sorry Harry,' Edward whispered as the magic played over his face. He stroked Harry's fingers. 'It's just hard for me to hear them... feeding and hearing their thoughts while they do it and... I'm so hungry.' He eyes were red with thirst as he turned to look Harry in the face. Harry had never seen Edward so strained. He allowed the magic to caress Edward's chest, his angled collar bones and the pale cold skin. Edward closed his eyes, the lids flickering with the feeling the magic was creating in his body. Harry leant in and kissed Edward. The vampire responded, crushing Harry to him.

'Maybe I can distract you a little?' Harry whispered into Edward's auburn hair as he gently kissed the temples where the white skin smoothed into Edward's hairline. He moved his hands over Edward's body, following where the magic had awakened the desire in Edward's body. Edward stretched out his arms against the wall in a gesture of surrender. He had thought, in that dark moment with Dracula, that he would never feel this again. This warmth of security with the sweet tang of lust. With this thought came the guilty memory of Dracula's bite, he knew the scar had healed but the mark Dracula's teeth had made on him was not only skin deep. The guilt swirled around in the arousal Harry was eliciting from his body, making the feeling more bittersweet than before. He felt Harry's hands caressing him and he abandoned himself to the feeling.

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Edward's senses leapt from the lull into which they had slipped during Harry's 'distraction'. There was someone watching them, he could hear the vampire's thoughts amused and interested in their actions. He opened his eyes and saw the vampire Harry had called Lady Elizabeth standing in the distant doorway her violet eyes sweeping the scene before her. He touched Harry's shoulder and Harry turned too in the direction of the woman. She quickly looked down at the ground.

'I am sorry to interrupt you,' her voice was a delicate sound of crystal and Harry was reminded of Mina Harker. 'I have no wish to disturb your reunion.' He beautiful mouth curved slightly in a smile. Edward pulled himself upright, his fumbling with his clothes made him look almost human as Harry watched his regain that vampire stillness, that reminder of death which was so amazing in someone so alive. Edward cleared his throat.

'Lady Elizabeth. You are not feeding with the others?' his voice sounded a little hoarse and Harry wished that the woman had not interrupted them. Edward needed to relax, Harry didn't know what Edward had experienced with Dracula but he knew that the Count would not have left an opportunity to corrupt Edward untried. His attention was moved to the woman as she shook her head, her blonde curls bounding around her pretty, heart shaped face as she spoke.

'My...condition is more difficult than that of the others.' Her voice was refined and the gesture of her hand displayed her remorse more eloquently than Harry had ever seen before. Edward's eyebrows asked the question he was too polite to frame into words. Lady Elizabeth sighed.

'Unlike our friends Edward, I have no appetite for human blood.' Harry noticed she didn't include Edward in the mix of vampires feasting on the humans in the next room. Harry once again noticed her manners and careful phrasing.

'Then how do you stay so young looking? Don't you drink blood at all or does the blood of animals sustain you?' Harry hoped he wasn't being rude but the delicate sidestepping of egos between Edward and Lady Elizabeth was getting them nowhere. She smiled at him, as though he was very young. Harry supposed he must be really to her; despite looking about fifteen, he guessed she was much older. Her imperious manner when she'd been released from her cell had lead Harry to believe she was much older. Maybe people grew up faster when she was young he mused to himself.

'I do not drink blood at all Harry, you are right.' She paused as if deciding how to phrase her next sentence, then she squared her shoulders and spoke the most extraordinary and shocking words Harry had ever heard. 'In order to remain young and keep my strength and looks I must bathe in human blood.' Edward heard Harry's gasp and squeezed his hand tightly in the wizard's warning him to keep his disgust to himself. Edward had suspected the identity of the vampire woman from the start but now his ideas were confirmed. He bowed low.

'Lady Elizabeth, Countess of Bathory.' His kissed the white silken hand which she held out to him. He risked a glance at Harry's face. It was white and he was open mouthed. 'Of all the vampire powers I knew, I had forgotten yours.' Harry was breathing again but he still looked stunned. Lady Elizabeth noticed this too.

'I am sorry if my words have shocked you Harry,' she smiled sweetly and it was hard for Harry to imagine this young, beautiful woman bathing in gore. 'I have had my share of misfortune because of my constitution, 'She said it like she was allergic to peanuts some numbed part of Harry's brain noticed. He nodded unsure what his response was supposed to be. Edward seemed to be taking this completely in his stride. Harry was reminded again how inhuman Edward could be, the thought made him shiver. 'Perhaps if I tell you my story,' the Countess went on, taking a seat on a rough stone ledge jutting from the wall and gesturing gracefully for Edward and harry to do the same, 'perhaps then you might understand more fully.'


	28. Chapter 28

Edward watched Harry's face as he sat down next to the Countess in the place she had indicated for him. He saw Harry jump as the delicate white hand grabbed his own and the violet eyes of the beautiful woman between them fixed on his own.

'Harry, I grew up in a very different time than your own, many things I have witnessed would now send a person mad, ' the white shoulders shrugged gently,' maybe I was mad for a time but I want you to understand Harry that things were very different then. The law of the animal was much nearer the surface in humankind, lust, hatred cruelty were very much part of our lives. In your time Harry people pretend they do not have these emotions. Bu they are merely buried beneath the surface, under a veneer of civilisation. Dracula understands this and it is one reason why he is so deadly.' She was obviously earnest and desperate for Harry to understand and empathise with her. Strangely he was finding it difficult to feel revulsion for the bird like beauty to profess to such unspeakable acts. She carried on, still holding his gaze.

'From my childhood I witnessed terrible things Harry. My family were rich and powerful and could do as they liked with their people. Once my father was angry with a servant and I watched as he had him sewn into the belly of a dying horse. The horse and the man cried out but my father was relentless. The man was sewn up with only his head left sticking out. It looked like something created by a mad god, and indeed that is how my father was treated by the people of the land he ruled over. After hours of pain and suffering the man and the horse died. I saw the whole thing Harry. No one explained to me that this was inhuman, barbaric. I was brought up to treat absolute cruelty to others as a normal expression of a ruler. After the death of the servant people showed my father more respect, were more careful to perform his wishes exactly as he required them. I was taught, as children in your world are taught to say 'please' and 'thank you' because it will get them what they want, that this was the way to make people perform your wishes.' She looked down at her feet. Edward didn't think she was ashamed, after all these years the conditioning she had experienced as a human child would still be strong in her. He wondered if she was using a glamour on Harry, who seemed to be staring at her dumbly. Her eyes lifted and once more locked Harry in her gaze.

'My life was a strange brew of luxury and hardship,' she went on, 'nothing was denied to me. The pain and suffering of my servants was mine at the gesture of a hand.' As if to demonstrate she waved white, fragile looking fingers before her face. 'Their lives were mine to take and yet I was denied the pleasure of freedom, freedom to find out who I was, to love whom I chose. I was engaged at the age of five to a man fifteen years my senior whom I had never met. It was common enough in those days and I didn't think it was cruel but when I found someone to love me and fell pregnant then I realised what had been taken from me. The man I loved was murdered and my baby taken from me. I never saw my daughter again.' Her face looked truly sad though Harry as the violet eyes bored into his, it was strange how her beauty was mesmerising. He looked at the full mouth, pulled down at the corners in sadness as she told her story and he felt in himself an inexplicable desire to kiss her, to hold her fragile body to him and kiss her passionately. It was as though there were only he and she in the dimly lit cavern. Edward saw the glamour threading itself between the Countess and Harry and found himself unable to move to stop it. All he could see of her thoughts was the story she was weaving, the mountains and harsh landscape of her homeland contrasting with the opulent luxury of the castles in which she lived. He could smell and see the blood as she spoke of ancient tortures, he felt the venom flood his mouth, felt his thirst rise in him. Her soft voice carried on.

'I was married to my husband later that year. I became the mistress in his castle and it was natural for me to rule as my father had taught me. I was desperate for my husband to love me, to desire me but he did not. He took other women, blatantly in my own household. He treated me badly and beat me when I complained. I was only the means to having an heir for him. I gave him three children, born out of rape and abuse. My once fine looks were ravaged by labour and childbirth. Even though I was still young by the standards of your time, he told me I was old and that no one would want me. When I wept and told him of my loneliness he laughed cruelly and offered to loan me out to his servants. I was so lonely, so desperate. In those times a woman's power was only as much as her husband allowed her. I was his possession and, if he didn't value me, I was worth nothing.

One day will I was bathing, my young servant girl accidently poured some hot water onto my arm. It burned me and, in anger I lashed out and hit her with the back of my hand. One of the diamonds on my ring must have cut her cheek and the blood from the wound dripped down onto my scalded skin. I watched with excitement as the red and puckered skin became soft and white again! It was as though the blood returned my skin to its youthful lustre! In that moment I saw my way to regain my husband's affections and, through this, my power in the world. Without a thought for the servant girl, my upbringing had taught me that she was no more to me than the animals you breed for food, I had her killed and her blood drained into the bath and warmed. Though I was at first reviled by the feeling of the thick congealing blood on my skin the transformation this magical elixir wrought on my body was so complete that I swept aside my initial revulsion utterly. My skin was white and smooth again and it took on a subtle shimmer like that of sunlight on water. My sagging and pouchy stomach became gently rounded and soft as it had before my children had been born. Soon I was bathing every month in the blood of one of my servants. My courtiers marvelled at my transformation, my unearthly beauty. My husband renewed his sexual advances towards me; he was driven to fulfil my every whim by lust for my new body. I decided to punish him as he had punished me, cruelty was engrained in my nature now, and I took young lovers to taunt him. At first other young noble men who I soon grew tired of and then women, servants and gentlewomen. My beauty became a legend in my homeland and people would travel just to catch a glimpse of me as I was carried from the home of one lover back to my sumptuous palaces.

Soon it wasn't enough to bathe in the warm, delicious blood only one a month. I began to crave the transformation more and more often, imagining wrinkles and lines where they were none. Monthly baths became weekly, then daily and the people began to add the stories of the disappearing servant girls to the stories of my splendour. I did not care; I was gorgeous and invulnerable, like a diamond made off the hardest stuff known to man.' Harry gazed into her eyes, feeling as though they were deep pools of pure water, swirling around him, sucking him deeper into her story. As she spoke the images came alive and he watched them played out on the violet of her limpid eyes.

'I began to wonder, in my pride, if the blood of servants was enough. Surely the blood of noblewomen would be more potent, would bring about more change, more beauty? I killed my female lover when she told me she wanted another, that she was scared of me. Thus began my downfall in the living world. Servant girls went unnoticed but the daughters of rich men...

Soon even my family and husband could not protect me and they had me walled up in the walls of my own home.' Her eyes grew larger still at the memory.' I waited to die of hunger, of thirst but death did not come. My skin grew dull and wrinkled but death did not take me. I tortured myself with remorse for what I had done. I thought of my lost daughter, her face swam before my eyes and I wondered if she had been one of the hundreds of young girls I had killed to preserve myself. After years in the darkness with my decaying body and fevered mind there eventually came a kind of clarity. A serene calmness. I pretended to be dead and they guards took my body and buried me. I had to claw myself from my grave as so many of our kind do but then I was free. I have lived like this for hundreds of years. Now I do not have to resort to my methods to remain young but to stay alive. What was once a vain motive is now survival. So, now do you understand me a little more, Harry? Am I still so hideous to you?' Harry felt himself shake his head; saw the red lips move towards him, felt hem brush gently at his own moth. Then Edward was pulling him back and holding him tightly against the wall.

'That's enough, Your Grace!' snapped Edward a snarl curling in his voice. The young woman shook herself as if waking from a sleep.

'Of course, my apologies Edward, she murmured. 'Habits long nurtured and are hard to break.'


	29. Chapter 29

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Lady Elizabeth drifted from the room silently. Harry watched her leave, still in shock from the vampire glamour and her story. Edward was holding his hand and Harry noticed that his grip was hurting him. He prised his fingers free and looked at Edward. Edward raised his eyebrows.

'Well, that was an experience,' he said. They both laughed, it felt good in the tension of the moment.

'What happened to me?' asked Harry dazed. Edward reached out and stroked back the lock of hair which had fallen over Harry's glasses' lenses.

'She glamoured you. I don't think it was intentional. It's something some vampires do to all humans they meet, to some extent. She obviously decided you were important for her survival and so the glamour kicked in. I didn't think it would work so easily on you.' He smirked at Harry's uncomfortable expression.

'Have you ever tried to glamour me?' asked Harry.

'No,' Edward said shortly, 'like I said, I presumed it wouldn't work. But now I know...' he gazed into Harry's eyes and Harry felt himself sinking under Edward's topaz spell. He shook his head and punched Edward lightly.

'Hey, less of that thank you!' he held Edward's hand again. 'Anyway you don't need to glamour me.' Edward smiled crookedly; the conversation had reminded him of what he had seen with Dracula and Harry. He should have known the Countess could glamour Harry so easily.

'Harry...' he began tentatively. Harry looked up from where he was resting his head on Edward's shoulder.

'Mm?'

'What happened when you met Dracula?' As the words left his mouth he felt stupid. He didn't need to question Harry's loyalty, didn't need there to be an opportunity for Harry to lie to him. What had happened to them since they had encountered Dracula? There were too many questions where once there had been certainty. He felt Harry take a deep breath.

'He tried to seduce me.' Harry's voice was flat and Edward could hear the pain behind the words. Harry was studying Edward's fingernails on the hand he was holding. Edward knew he was distracting himself so he could just speak the words and not think too much about what Edward's reaction might be. The silence lengthened between them, stretching Edward's nerves taut. 'I thought....he made himself look like you. I was so happy to have found you; I didn't question how easy it had been. He kissed me and...' Harry's voice shook, 'he touched me and then I realised it wasn't you, I realised who it was. I ran away.' Harry's head hung and Edward could feel the shame emanating off him in waves. 'I feel awful about it, Edward. I really didn't know it wasn't you until...'his voice trailed off.

'It's ok,' Edward soothed, 'he tried the same thing with me.' He felt Harry's face move to look at him questioningly. Edward bent and kissed him. Harry's hands ran through Edward's hair pulling him into Harry's embrace. Edward pulled back; he needed to know one more thing. 'How did you know it wasn't me?' He asked, his voice rough with desire as he felt Harry's hands slip beneath the waistband of his trousers. Harry's breathing was ragged in Edward's ear as he whispered back.

'He wasn't as... compliant as you are.' Edward felt Harry's mouth smile against his ear. Edward growled and grabbed at Harry's jeans and pulled him closer.

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Harry stroked Edward's hair absentmindedly. This feels better, he thought to himself, back to normal. He chuckled slightly at the thought that sex with a vampire could be classed as normal. What kind of turn had his life taken? Edward stirred next to him.

'What?' he asked looking into Harry's eyes as the wizard's body shook with laughter.

'Nothing,' laughed Harry, 'just thinking about how weird my life is.' He looked up at Edward's confused face and laughed harder. Edward's eyes widened and he laughed too. Soon they were both clutching each other and bellowing with laughter.

'Shhh,' spluttered Edward, looking around nervously and then laughing again as Harry's face turned red with the effort of trying to be quiet. It was a few moments before they could look at each other without laughing. Hysteria, thought Harry, that's what this is, we're hysterical. That started the giggling again.

They sobered up as Mitchell's serious face looked through the doorway.

'What's going on here?' his soft brogue sounded puzzled at the sight of the two of them laughing themselves silly.

'Sorry,' Edward pulled himself together, Harry watching the stillness return. 'Have you finished?' his voice was neutral. Mitchell shook his head.

'Not me mate, don't drink from humans if I can help it.' He swept his dark hair back from his face with a hand. Without the long black hair he looked young and his facial stubble made him look very human. Harry decided he like Mitchell. Edward's eyebrows rose.

'Oh? Spike implied you were happy to...' he stopped midsentence Spike was behind Mitchell, looking over his shoulder.

'Right,' Spike said wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 'Tank's full, dial's in the black, let's get rolling.' Edward stood, Harry followed him. The rest of the vampires came in after Spike. Lady Elizabeth was holding Carmilla's hand, she didn't meet their gaze. Harker hung at the back, his hands folded. 'So, chief,' Spike slapped Harry's back making him wince, 'what's the plan?'

Harry was taken aback at the vampires' natural acceptance of his leadership. They were all much older than he was and he had presumed that the eldest would lead. Who would that be? Lady Elizabeth he decided, but she was looking at him as expectantly as all the others. He swallowed.

'Er... I think we carry on until we meet some resistance, or Ruthven and Zillah,' he met Edward's puzzled look,' they helped me get in here. I don't know where they've gone now. Zillah insisted I look for you alone.' Mitchell spoke up next.

'There's a meeting of three corridors down there,' he pointed in the opposite direction from Dracula's 'larder', 'I went and had a look while you lot were eating and... catching up.' He winked at Edward. Harry was surprised to see Edward wink back.

'Right, three paths, we should split up. It's too crowded for all of us to wander about in these narrow passages. Carmilla and Lady Elizabeth can take one passage, Spike, Mitchell and Sir Francis another and Jonathan, Edward and I will take the third. We need to find a way out of here but I want to find Mina Harker and get her out too. It's up to the rest of you what you do; I'm not your leader.' He looked defiantly at the other vampires, catching Harker's eyes and accepting the gratitude he found reflected there.

'I don't think we should split up,' announced Spike stuffing his hands into the pockets of his leather coat.' It's not safe.' To everyone's surprise Sir Francis spoke up.

'Harry's right,' he said shrinking back from everyone's amazed looks. 'It's no good just running around like a rats in maze. If we find Mina, we bring her with us and we get out.' His chin jutted out with more determination that anyone had seen from him so far.

'Agreed,' said Mitchell firmly, looking pointedly at Spike. Everyone murmured their agreement, Spike reluctantly.


	30. Chapter 30

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They parted ways agreeing to find each other if they escaped from Dracula's lair. Harry wasn't sure if they were all going committed to freeing Mina, but he knew that at least Spike and Mitchell would try their best. Lady Elizabeth indicated that she could feel the dawn approaching, this seemed to be a peculiar gift of hers. This meant that Dracula might be asleep soon. Technically, the Count could go about in the day, she explained, but he was weakened by the sun not destroyed by it like the lesser vampires of his making. At this comment she looked apologetically at Spike and Harker and Harry realised she was referring also to Mina.

The parting was uncomfortable and Harry got the impression from the lack of physical and eye contact that vampires were solitary creatures by nature. This was fitting in with a theory he was turning over in his brain. Edward strode ahead down the narrow stone corridor, confident of his ability to spot danger before it spotted them. Harry could see the frown on concentration on Edward's thick, dark brows as he peered out into the gloom. The corridor was lit by torches flickering along the walls at sporadic intervals. It was hard for him to see but Edward had his hand grasped firmly in his own cold grip. Harry was glad, it felt comforting to hold on to Edward like this, but he didn't say anything. Harker followed at a respectful but companionable distance. He did not speak but the light from his wand glowed softly with a magic more precise than Harry could have hoped to imagine. He must have been practising magic for years thought Harry as their quiet footsteps were given a rhythm by the two humans' breathing patterns. This pattern lulled Harry's brain to wander along the thoughts it had been toying with since he had met the other vampires. He wanted to be alone with Edward so they could talk. He had an idea.

'Muffiato,' he whispered. He knew that Harker would understand what was happening to him at once when he heard the buzzing in his ears but he hoped that the older wizard would grant him some privacy with Edward. He glanced behind him, Harker just smiled and nodded.

'Edward,' hissed Harry in a whisper. Edward turned to look back, in the light of the torch his hair, all tangled and standing up, shone around his face; he was breath taking thought Harry, for the moment lost in the image of Edward's face in the soft light. Edward's eyebrows were drawn together in a familiar look of questioning. 'Edward, who told you the rules about your type of vampire?' Edward looked puzzled for a moment.

'Carlisle, I guess,' he frowned again, 'yes, Carlisle when he turned me told me of the things that we can and cannot do.' Edward's face looked pained and Harry realised he was thinking of his family. Harry hurried on, not wanting to concern Edward more than he had to.

'Have you ever tired anything that Carlisle told you wasn't possible for your type of vampire?' he asked. Edward's thick eyebrows shot up at this. He shook his head.

'No, like what? I don't understand what you mean.' They had stopped walking now and Harry turned to check on Harker, was he lip reading the conversation? To his amusement Harker had taken a small leather bound book from one of the large pockets of his jacket and seemed to be reading in the dim light from his wand.

'Have you... tried to turn into a bat or a mist or anything that the other vampires can do?' Harry smiled at the look of amusement that crossed Edward's face and the endearing crooked grin that followed.

'No, why would I do that? I thought other vampire tales were all myths until this experience. I presumed we were the only real sort of vampire there was. Why Harry? What are you saying?' He looked back at Harker; the man was scanning the pages with a long finger. 'Can he hear us?' Edward whispered. Harry shook his hand and waved his wand to explain. Edward's mind turned back to the question Harry had been asking. His voice became more excited as he began to think along the lines Harry's mind had been pursuing. 'Are you saying that I might be able to do those things?' he shook his head in amazement. Harry leant forward, excited by his idea and excited to share it with Edward. He'd never met anyone with so quick a mind, even Hermione would be left behind when Edward's brain got going. He smiled again.

'I'm just thinking what if all vampires can do ALL the things the others can? You can go out in sunlight, so can Dracula. Your skin sparkles and his doesn't but Spike can't go out in the day at all. What if your skin doesn't HAVE to sparkle? What if Spike can go out during the day, he just THINKS he can't?' Edward's face was excited now but then he frowned.

'But didn't you say Mina's skin began to burn in the sun?' he began obviously still thinking, his speech slow as he thought through the extraordinary idea Harry had put to him.

'If she THINKS it will maybe it will!' whispered Harry, glancing back again at Harker who was still reading, his face blank.

'So, what you're saying is, what limits a vampire's abilities is what he or she was told they could do? What about those like Carlisle who were never taught anything? No one told him the rules Harry.' Harry had thought about this.

'No,' he leant in closer and Edward could feel his warmth breath on his face, 'but he already had a preconceived idea of what vampires could do from his father didn't he? His father hunted vampires! He must have told Carlisle the rules when he was still mortal. When Carlisle turned he still believed those ideas were true so he limited himself to what he had been told he could do!' Light shone in Harry's eyes, Edward recognised the implications of what Harry was saying. Breathlessly Harry went on.' What if vampire minds are incredible powerful? What if just thinking you can't do something, thinking you'll burn to a crisp in the sun means you will? and what if...' Edward finished the sentence for him.

'What if a vampire thinks he CAN do something then he will be able to?' He whistled a low sound of appreciation. 'That's huge, Harry. Really huge. I mean, does that mean our only limitations are what we believe?' Edward's eyebrows rose as the far reaching implications of this theory sank in. 'If Dracula finds that out...' Harry nodded grimly.

'it got me thinking when I realised how solitary you all are,' he explained, ' I mean, none of you had really known other types of vampire existed, you all keep to your own. And if Mina can go out in the moonlight...'

'Moonlight's only reflected sunlight!' Edward grabbed Harry's arm and Harry winced, Edward let go. 'Sorry, just, god Harry you might be right! I...' he struggled with the words to express this overwhelming feeling that Harry was right. 'All these years,' he sighed. Harry knew he was thinking of his time spent in Forks, hiding from the sun, knew he was thinking about Bella. He held Edward's hand and made the vampire look at him.

Edward,' he whispered gently,' Edward, don't regret the past. Think about our future if this is true!' Edward's troubled gaze met Harry's jade green eyes and the worry evaporated from his expression. He grabbed Harry to him in a crushing hug.

'You might just have freed us all!' he whispered fiercely. Slowly he let go of Harry and they both realised what that actually meant. Free ranging vampires who could become a mist, a bat, a swarm of rats, a great black dog. Vampires with great strength who could drink or bathe in human blood to gain their immortality. Vampires not bothered by crosses or Holy Water or silver, who didn't have to sleep or rest. The human race didn't stand a chance.

'Good god,' hissed Harry. Edward just looked back at him, his eyes reflecting the enormity of the concept. 'We have to try to be alone, so we can get you to try it out Edward.' He continued in the same hushed voice. Edward shook his head.

'Maybe I won't be able to... I've had nearly a hundred years of conditioning Harry.' His voice was full of self doubt. Harry clutched his arm.

'Edward, if any vampire can do this, then it's you. You've been in control of yourself so long; your mind is so powerful it has tamed that vampire spirit inside you!' Edward thought back to the desire he had felt for Dracula to release the beast within him. The almost sexual longing with which he had yearned for the Count's bite, the long hours in the dark where he had wrestled with that inner vampire spirit, finally taming it again beneath his civility. He shuddered. Harry misunderstanding, squeezed his had tightly in encouragement. 'We've got to lose Harker, just for a few hours. If I'm right Edward this could help us escape far more easily. Dracula won't be ready for this!' Edward nodded slowly still thinking of Dracula's bite. The place on his neck burned with a sweet tingling which was almost erotic. He felt the pull of Dracula's jaws on his blood, drawing the liquid through his veins until it poured down the Count's throat and spilled down his chin. He closed his eyes against the image. He felt Harry turn from him and whisper the charm which allowed Harker to hear them again.

The wizard looked up at them once and pocketed his book; he smiled at the two young solemn faces before him.

'Gentlemen, is there something you wish to say to me?' It was Edward who answered.

'Harker, I know that you and Harry don't need sleep as other mortals do,' Harker nodded gracefully. 'But I was wondering if it might not be beneficial for you both to rest before we move on. Inevitably ahead of us we will confront Dracula and I for one would prefer to do it with two powerful and refreshed wizards at my side' Edward's smile was dazzling and Harry wondered if he was using a glamour on Harker. Harker didn't seem to notice. 'I know you are keen to find and release your wife but I feel we might find that an easier task if we stop briefly to rest before we move on.' Harker nodded obviously relieved and Harry noticed for the first time the sagging posture of the wizard whose outward appearance was so young.

'Edward I think that is a most wise suggestion. Perhaps I could cast some kind of spell around us while we rest? You of course do not need to sleep and you will no doubt watch over us most efficiently but extra precautions would be useful.' Harry realised that the two men were being extremely polite to each other, neither wishing to offend the other's sensibilities. It must be a product of the times he thought to himself.

'Let's walk on until we find a suitable chamber which will keep us safe from attack,' suggested Harker gesturing for them to move on. Edward turned and continued along the corridor, his feet making no sound like the paws of a great cat. Harry followed trying to ignore the part of his brain which was realising, with a dawning horror, the impact of his theory. If Edward didn't need to sleep, neither did Dracula.


	31. Chapter 31

Spike and Mitchell were relishing the adventure before them, both had been irritated by the ease of their capture and both felt they had some reckoning to do with Dracula. Despite their different temperaments, Spike's sarcasm and anarchic attitude grated against Mitchell's need for harmony, they worked brilliantly as a team. Mitchell crept ahead, silent as only a predator could be on his big black boots. He was naturally cautious and this served them well as they had met with two sets of guards.

The first had been two blonde women warriors and it was not until they were incapacitated that Spike noticed these were not the same two he had seen before. He raised his eyebrows thinking that Dracula must have turned a whole race of Viking Amazons back in the day. The element of surprise had been theirs as the guards had only heard their approach at the last moment. There had been a few seconds of ludicrous farce as both Mitchell and Spike rode on the warrior women's' backs trying to get some kind of advantage while the blonde guards spun about, battering their riders on the sharp, rocky walls. It was much to their surprise that Sir Francis then joined the fray. With the agility of a cat he jumped first upon the woman onto whose back Mitchell clung like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. Deftly his thin hands felt for her neck and with a great wrench he turned her head so sharply that Mitchell heard the bones snap and the woman fell lifeless to the floor. Her body rested there briefly, turned ashen gray then to dust at his feet. Sir Francis was now upon Spike's assailant and she too was quickly dispatched by the same efficient method. He body too reduced to dust Sir Francis wiped his hands fastidiously on his coat tails. He looked up and smiled weakly at the two astonished faces of his colleagues.

'Bloody 'ell mate,' panted Spike from where he was doubled over, hands on his knees, 'remind me not to get on the wrong end of you!' He stood and slapped Sir Francis appreciatively on the back, Sir Francis stumbled forward, his former strength seeming to have left him. His smile grew a little wider. Mitchell was shaking his head.

'Wow. I didn't expect that from you Franny boy,' he grinned. Sir Francis finished dusting off his hands.

'Well, I wondered whether you really needed my help but I thought we were best getting it over with and getting on,' his tone was polite.

After this they had carried on, this time with Sir Francis in the middle so that he could help with an attack from in front or from behind.

'I'd like a nice solid door now and again,' muttered Spike as they rounded a bend to find yet more snaking, crooked rocky walls.

'At least it seems we're heading upwards now,' Mitchell whispered back, 'we must be going in the right direction. Maybe we'll get out without coming across Dracula at all.' He sounded hopefully.

It was then the second set of guards attacked. They jumped from what Mitchell had taken to be a deep recess in the walls of the passage but which was actually a junction of another corridor. The first guard to fly out of the dark shadow was small and incredibly ugly. White livid flesh puckered on its face and its mouth was no more than I sharply fanged hole beneath the slits it used as a nose. Mitchell was flung back against the rocks by the weight of his attacker.

'Ubervamps!' Spike hissed pushing past Sir Francis to grab the smaller creature by the black rags it wore and flinging it back down the corridor, knocking its companions over with the force of his bowling arm. Mitchell scrambled up accepting Spike's hand.

'What the fuck is that?' his voice sounded scared. Spike shook his head.

'Ubervamps. They have some other long winded name. Haven't seen them since Buffy fought the first but...' whatever he had been going to say was lost as the ugly vampire scrambled forward again and clutched its taloned hands tightly around his neck. He grabbed the bony fingers and tried to prise them off but the thing kept on squeezing. Spike's foot came up between the ubervamp's legs and it stumbled back, behind it three more human looking vampires charged out of the darkness.

Sir Francis grabbed the first by his arm and swung him violently into the two others. He looked own as the vampire's arm came off in his hand. He shrugged and began to brandish the severed arm, hitting the ubervamp with the ragged, bloody end. The ubervamp, obviously distracted by the blood, grabbed the bleeding stump and gnawed on it with its grotesque pointed fangs. This gave Spike time to attack and he quickly pulled a big Bowie knife from his coat and slashed at the ubervamp's throat. The creature staggered back still clutching the severed limb as its blood, thick and black pumped from its neck like a sick fountain. It collapsed to the ground. The one armed vampire was still attacking Sir Francis. Mitchell recovered himself enough to link his hands together and smash at the vampire's head until it too sunk to the ground. The other two attacking vampires looked at each other and started to run. Spike wiped the Bowie knife on his trousers, the wickedly sharp edge shining in the dim light from the torches. He picked up a large rock lying at the side of the passage and threw it high along the roof of the corridor. It cracked one vampire loudly on his head and he stumbled onto his friend in front, both of them going down like dominoes.

'Sir Francis? If you would...' Spike gestured a twisting motion with his hands as Sir Francis nodded eagerly and snapped the necks of the stunned vampires, finishing with the one he had delivered of his arm last of all.

For a moment the three looked at the carnage around them. It was Spike who began to laugh first. He slapped a leather clad leg with his hand.

'Brilliant!' he shouted, 'I've not had that much fun in ages!'

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A very different sort of progress had been made by Lady Elizabeth and Carmilla. The two tall, graceful vampire women stalked along the rocky tunnel, stopping slightly to accommodate their regal height. They long draping clothes swept behind them and the torch light glittered from the jewels in Lady Elizabeth's blonde long hair and the ivory sheen where Carmilla's red velvet dress exposed her white shoulders. They did not speak or hold hands for comfort as the others had done. Instead they picked their way along like two beautiful, deadly spiders made form ice. Their eyes glittered with excitement and their senses were sharper than Spike's Bowie knife. They both longed for a chance to redress the injustices they had suffered at Dracula's hands.

Carmilla stopped silently, holding up a delicate white hand to indicate silence. There was not need; neither of the vampire women had made any noise discernable to hearing, human or otherwise.

Ahead of them the torchlight flickered more brightly illuminating the sharp features of two blonde vampire women. They wore the leather armour, stamped with the dragon, that was the uniform of Dracula's High Guard and they stood perfectly still looking out towards where Carmilla and Lady Elizabeth approached. One of them angled her spear out into the darkness, her supernatural senses telling her something was out there although her animal senses told her nothing.

Gently touching Carmilla's arm as though they might be two gentle ladies at a formal ball, Lady Elizabeth eased herself into the torchlight. Carmilla had to admit that she was breath taking. Her dark blue gown cut low over her breasts, her golden hair intricately coiled and sparkling with gems. The glamour spread out from her like lazy, sweet honey, transfixing the guards in its seductive amber. Carmilla had to fight to keep herself from slipping into its warm depths. She marvelled at the Countess' power. Her voice was and expansion of the glamour, heady and intoxicating.

'Sisters,' she breathed and the Viking women relaxed, their mouths pulled into lascivious smiles, their hard muscles softening in the golden glow of the countess' glamour. 'Sisters, surely you will fight with us?' Through the glamour her reasoning was so clear, so obvious that Carmilla felt herself nod in agreement with the Viking women. Carmilla felt a desperate longing to touch the Countess' skin, to feel her approval bathe over her body. The Viking women moved nearer to Lady Elizabeth, not daring to touch but their longing too was drawn across their face in delicious anguish. The countess raised a delicate hand and trickled her fingers through the hair of the nearest guardswoman. The flaxen hair fell loose around the woman's shoulders and the Viking closed her ice blue eyes in pleasure. When she had freed both the women's hair Lady Elizabeth smiled at her three vampire companions. The smile was seductive and it glittered with cruelty.

'Now, sisters, let us find this whelp Dracula.'


	32. Chapter 32

Harry had waited impatiently for Harked to finish the complicated charm around them. His magic shivered in the air and Harry knew that, despite its seeming fragility, it was as solid as the rock around them. They had settled on a small ante chamber which was situated at the back of a room which looked like it had not been used for centuries. Edward had noted the same furnishing as he had seen in his cell but this was dusty and covered in cobwebs which blurred the embroidered dragons and dimmed the vibrant colours of the luxuriant fabrics.

Now Harked was gently snoring on a chaise longue he had wiped down fastidiously with his pocket handkerchief. Harry turned excitedly to Edward.

'Right, let's give this a go!' He took in Edward's face of worry, the eyebrows drawn together, the full mouth pinched in thought. 'You can do it Edward, I know you can.'

Edward's tension had been building since their first conversation about the vampire powers. He knew that to truly free himself from the strictures put upon him by Carlisle at his 'birth' he must also free himself from all the restraints he had voluntarily put upon himself. The vampire beast within him lurked and Edward felt it smile secretly. How could he explain this to Harry? This was the darkest part of him, the part he had only half exposed to Harry that night at the house, when Harry had held him and asked him, no commanded him, Edward's mouth twisted slightly into a smirk, to let go, to let him see it all. He thought he had. Until the touch of Dracula's teeth on his skin Edward had believed that he had given the whole of his beast to Harry. Now he knew differently. He couldn't let that out again, not so soon after it had been unleashed by Dracula, not now when he hadn't made it submit completely to his will. He had to try to explain this but how? Admitting his weakness with Dracula filled Edward with shame. Harry would understand wouldn't he? Edward shook himself like a dog. He couldn't tell Harry this yet; he had to have time to think. Maybe he could try to let go of some of his restraints, just not the ones which held the vampire animal inside him in check?

'Harry, 'Edward's voice was gentle and he traced the outline of Harry's jaw with his fingers, 'I'm not sure I can do this. I'm not sure I can let go enough and still be the person I am.'

'What do you mean Edward?' Harry looked up into Edward's eyes; there was so much belief in those green eyes, thought Edward, belief in me.

'If I let go of what Carlisle taught me I might not be to keep control of the...' his voice trailed off and his eyes searched the room, scanning the furnishings, the snoring wizard, anywhere but look at Harry's trusting face. Harry nodded.

'I know what you're saying Edward but I've seen that beast Edward, remember?' He kissed Edward's fingers as they made their way across his jaw and to his lips. 'I've seen it all. It'll be ok.' Harry looked at Edward, there was something wrong, something else Edward wasn't telling him but what? He was hungry; Harry knew that, could see the red glint in those usually gentle eyes. Maybe that was what was bothering Edward, maybe the beast would be stronger because it had not fed. He began to roll up his sleeve. Edward looked at him curiously and then his stare grew more intent as the beast inside him noticed the blue vein pulsing in the crook of Harry's elbow. Edward stepped back and shook his head furiously.

'No!' His voice was harsh, angrier than Harry had ever heard him. Harry felt hurt, rejected. He held his arm to his body and his magic shot out from him tingling and nipping at Edward's white skin. The vampire took another step backwards but his lip was curling back over his teeth now and an ominous growl was coming from deep in his throat. His aggressive posture forced a reaction from Harry. He stepped forward, his hand feeling for his wand which he realised was over the other side of the room, where he'd put down his jacket. His chin jutted out and his eyes were large with fear but also with defiance. Edward's beast saw the defiance and growled again in response. It was glad it had someone to intimidate, it smelt the delicious fear coming from the boy and it would savour the taste it would give to his blood. Edward took a step forward, crouching down; every muscle and sinew ready to pounce. The air was electric with tension. Vainly Edward struggled with the monster inside him, pushing it down, trying to distract himself with other things. But the sweet song of Harry's blood filled his brain with longing and hunger. Even the sting of the magic around him only heightened the hunt, the delightful drawing out of the moment where he would rip out this boy's throat and drink him down like the sweet draft of life.

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In his lair Dracula sat upright, his senses all alert and tingling with the knowledge that the first part of his plan was coming to fruition. Since he had drunk Edward's blood, known so intimately the monster inside the civility Edward had long cultivated, this part of Edward had belonged wholly to him. As it awakened, he awakened and what it saw, so too he could see. As he smelt Harry's fear Dracula felt himself control the beast inside Edward.

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Something had happened to Edward's eyes. Harry had been watching carefully as the thing that had been Edward crouched and prowled along the floor like a mountain lion. He watched with horror as the soft lips curled back from the teeth and silver venom dripped and pooled on the floor before him. This was no game; Harry could feel the creature's deadly intent, feel its eyes and its mind assessing the room, choosing its point of attack. The long white fingers curved into claws and the powerful muscles rippled under Edward's clothes as he prepared to strike.

'Edward,' Harry's voice shook and he tried to control it, knowing that, of all things, he could not show this creature fear and live. 'Edward,' he tried again, his voice stronger this time. 'Edward, remember who you are. Remember I'm Harry, your Harry Edward.' He slowly rolled down his sleeve and moved slightly to the side. He had to get to his wand, if Edward was going to strike him then only his magic would help him.

Dracula heard the tremor in Harry's voice and smiled. Edward smiled too and the sound of fear sparkled over his body. The beast heard the fear and knew that it would win. Dracula stroked the beast in his mind, encouraging it like a dangerous pet. He spoke softly to it, told it of the satisfaction it would have in drinking the boy's blood, satisfaction it had been denied for many years.

Edward fought for the control of his body, trying desperately to remember who Harry was; why it was so important not to kill him. He felt his grip on himself loosening, felt the animal he was becoming roar inside him. That noise, he remembered that noise. The last time he had heard it it had then been from the threatening storm clouds Dracula had gathered to hunt them down in the streets of the city. He looked at Harry through the red mist which was clouding his vision and tried to remember. Those trembling hands holding him gently, that voice soothing and trusting. The beast felt its power waning and it struggled fiercely. Dracula felt it too and he pushed with his mind at the barrier Edward was reasserting. The beast reached out and took control of Edward's limbs. He leapt across the room, clearing the distance between himself and Harry in a bound. Harry dragged a heavy wooden chair in front of him, his muscles screaming at his frantic effort. Edward arm knocked the chair away like a toy. He was inches from Harry's throat, and Harry could see the wide, wild eyes of the beast staring out from the twisted wreck of Edward's face. The face was a mask of bestiality and savagery. The creature stopped and sniffed the air, eager for more of the scent of fear. Harry let his mind go still, his body language neutral, as he felt for the wand with his mind. It was where he had left it, in his jacket pocket across the room from him. Harry glanced at the sleeping form of Harker. Why hadn't he awoken? Harry realised then, the thought made his blood run cold, he was the only person in the room not controlled by Dracula.

The Count pushed at the beast inside Edward, goading it on, putting into its primitive mind the taste of the blood, the feel of the skin ripping apart between its deadly jaws. It snarled and began to move forward, crouching, ready to pounce. Harry knew he had to act now. He had no time to consider his actions; if his attempt failed then he was dead.

'Accio!' he shouted, throwing his hand out to where the wand lay half out of his jacket pocket across the room. It twitched and then lay still. The creature snarled again as if it was mocking his effort, his puny magic. It looked to Harry as though Edward wanted to see how much he could really do, what his magic could achieve and then he'd rip his throat out just the same. The creature sprung forward on lethal muscles, poised in its jump it was like art, a thing of utter beauty and awe.

'Accio!' this time Harry screamed, his voice cracking with terror on the last syllable. He felt his insides turn to liquid cold, felt the impact of the creature before it even hit him. Felt the wood of the wand in his hand. Not registering what he had achieved, barely thinking at all, he pointed it at the creature and, even in this moment of life and death he did not forget that this was Edward, the man he loved. 'Stupefy!' he commanded. Edward fell back, dazed but still conscious. Harry could almost see Dracula reasserting himself within the body of Edward, persuading and coaxing the creature to get up and renew its attack. But there was something else in Edward's scarlet eyes. Somewhere from inside Edward had realised that Harry was about to kill him. He could see the magic pouring from Harry like water from a waterfall, see it cascading through him and focussing on the tip of his wand. Deep inside the feral creature he had become he welcomed death; he held open his arms of his mind and embraced the end. He willed it to come before the beast could hurt the precious boy whom he loved. As the creature stumbled back Edward realised he wasn't dead. He realised that Harry was risking his own life to save him.

Harry saw the creature behind Edward's eyes pause. He began to speak, soothing gentle words, keeping his voice calm and low, he told Edward how he loved him, would always love him, how he loved him even now. He slowly lowered the tip of his wand, pointing it towards the floor.

Dracula reminded the beast of its hunger, desperate hunger barely fed for tens of years on animals. This would taste so good, he urged, so coppery and thick as it slid down inside him, nourishing and strengthening. He felt the beast howl in frustration at Edward's attempts to curb its instincts, your own instincts, Dracula reminded Edward, allowing him to feel his presence. Edward felt Dracula inside him, felt the dark scar on his throat which had allowed him access. His skin was alive again with the lust in that bite, the power to take in those teeth which penetrated him, body and soul. He struggled against the Count's lascivious embrace. He struggled towards Harry, toward honesty, towards love.

Harry saw Edward lurch towards him, saw the pain mixed with horror in his eyes. There was a second where their gazes locked together, Edward's fear searing through his topaz eyes. Hunger wracked his body and there was a last, fierce struggle as he finally pushed the beast away from him, away from the surface and back to where he had kept it hidden for all those years.

Harry felt Edward's victory over the animal inside him and released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. Edward crumpled to the ground and Harry sat beside him, cradling his head in his arms. Gently, and without hesitation, he rolled up his sleeve again and pressed the smooth skin against Edward's teeth. Edward tried weakly to push the arm away but Harry used the sharpness of Edward's teeth and the pressure of his own grip to break his skin. Harry's blood was sweet and dark, Edward felt it fill his mouth, slicking his teeth and tongue. Pleasure exploded inside his body. This forbidden intimacy opening him up to Harry's magic more than ever before. It shimmered around them both, merging and melding them together, creating something more striking and stronger than before.

Harry felt himself being drunk down by Edward, consumed and transformed into Edward's strength, his beauty and power. Edward felt Harry's blood, tingling with the magic he was drawing from his veins, his heart. He knew now that nothing could part them, not time, not Dracula, nothing. Their forms flooded into each other, it was not possible to tell one from the other now. Harry with sparkling white skin, Edward's brow bearing the lightning scar. Edward felt Harry's heart beating loud in his head; he knew that rhythm was only for him. It was as though this act had lifted them up, elevated them to the height of angels and they looked down on the mingling shapes of their bodies and they laughed together at the confusion of a world which had tried to separate them.

The time seemed infinitely stretched out, flowing between them like blood and magic. They felt linked beyond time, as though this moment was never going to end.

Edward grabbed Harry's arm and held it to his mouth, he pulled on the blood with his strong jaw, sucking and licking at the blood, not missing a drop. Harry fell back against the wall but Edward caught him. Reversing their position Edward now held Harry to him, savouring this boy's most intimate taste. With supreme effort he pulled away. He looked up at Harry through eyes heavy with fatigue and fulfilment and saw Harry smiling weakly at him.


	33. Chapter 33

It was Zillah who picked up on the anger and destruction emanating from Dracula's curtained chamber in the great hall. Once alerted to it Ruthven was amazed he hadn't felt it too. The ripple of emotion spreading out from the centre was almost stifling. He began to feel his hackles rise, his whole body wanting to pick a fight with someone, anyone. He looked at Zillah, his eyes were narrowed to slits and his nostrils flared, he felt it too. Ruthven fought the anger which he knew was not his and reached out to touch Zillah's hand lightly. Zillah's face turned towards him sharply, his hands curving into claws, then he relaxed. Ruthven watched with admiration as Zillah smoothed his features and relaxed his muscles, visibly giving up the black waves of emotion washing over them. In the far corner a fight broke out between two vampires. Spitting and hissing they whirled, their teeth snapping and their clothes blurring around them with the supernatural speed of their fight. Ruthven could understand why they were fighting. There was enough animosity in the room to start another world war. This must be Dracula.

'Harry and Edward,' whispered Zillah. Then when Ruthven shook his head to show his lack of comprehension he continued, 'they must have done something to anger the Count. Can't you feel this anger is flavoured with something of their... essence?' Ruthven paused soaking up the raw emotion flowing around him. He fought the urge to scream as the black feelings pulsed in his body, suffocating clear thinking. Then he felt it, something slightly shimmering underneath the raven darkness. Something he had felt before that night after they had met Mina. He nodded to Zillah, his eyes shining.

'That's our boys!' Ruthven was glad that something was happening, he'd been waiting around for too long and it was making him nervous. He looked again to Zillah. He seemed to be scanning the room with his bright, sharp eyes. 'What?' asked Ruthven frowning.

'They're not here,' said Zillah his mouth hardly moving as he whispered. 'I thought they'd be here by now.'

'Have you got a plan?' Ruthven was excited now; travelling with Zillah was always fun of some sort. He just hoped this wasn't the sort that got them killed. Zillah nodded imperceptibly. Then, in one fluid motion he stood up. He looked down to Ruthven.

'Stay here. I'm going to find them.' Ruthven pouted, this wasn't fun and it might be dangerous. Zillah saw the expression on Ruthven's face and smiled. 'I'll be back soon with the boys, then we'll see what we can stir up!' his smile became a wicked wide grin, showing all his teeth. Ruthven smiled back, suddenly having more understanding into why Zillah was quite a terrifying vampire.

Zillah merged with the darkness like he'd never even existed. Moments after a pale figure crept from the curtained dais and exited the hall. Ruthven watched them go, wishing he could warn Zillah.

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Spike, Mitchell and Sir Francis stalked the tunnels leading up to the great hall. They'd had no more encounters with any guards and the silence was making Spike anxious.

'So, what do you reckon's with all the different vamps?' he asked Mitchell who was taking the lead. The Irishman shook his head. 'No idea mate,' he whispered back to Spike, 'but you can bet that it's not going to be good for us if Dracula works it out first. Do you think Harry and Edward will be able to figure out what's going on?' It was Spike's turn to shake his head now.

'That Edward's a smart bloke and Harry's a pretty powerful wizard from what I can gather, but I don't know if they're going to have time to think about it if the Count's on to them.' He sighed, 'I just wanted to come to Rome, find Buffy and have some fun.' Mitchell smiled in the darkness as he rounded the corner and saw the torch lights of the great hall flickering ahead.

'You might not have found your girl but you might just be in just the right place for the fun, pal,' he whispered.

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Edward's mind was still reeling from the impact of Harry's blood. He could still feel the boy wizard's power in his veins, small pulses of magic sparkled on the outskirts of his vision. He felt invigorated, alive. He knew that he was stronger than he'd ever been from drinking animal blood and he suspected that drinking wizard's blood was giving him more than ordinary human blood ever could have done. He flexed his fingers, feeling the muscles clench powerfully in his fore arms. The implications of Harry's discovery were slowly sinking in. The ramifications were immense, Edward knew he had to work out how to overcome his limitations before Dracula found out and tried for himself. He felt certain that where he had failed the Count would succeed. Dracula had no qualms about releasing his inner demons.

His heightened senses made him acutely aware of Harry treading quietly behind him; Edward could almost hear the thoughts zipping around Harry's brain as they walked slowly, silently upwards through the dark tunnels.

Harker hadn't said a word when they'd woken him. He had smiled and picked up his jacket. Edward had noticed the dark rings around his eyes. He wondered about Harker's age; every once in a while the glamour surrounding the aging wizard would flicker and behind the youthful mask Edward had glimpsed a weary face, lined with pain and many years of anguish. This image was burned into his mind. He would not let this happen to Harry, at any cost.

A noise behind him made him pause and look back over his shoulder. Harker was leaning forward, keenly peering into the darkness ahead of them. Edward heard a noise, a soft rustle of clothing, a muted footstep. He crouched ready to spring forward into attack. Harker's hand reached and grasped Edward's arm in a surprisingly tight grip. Edward stepped back as Harker pushed passed him, scraping the jagged rock with his shoulder; from the darkness stepped Mina Harker.

She was dressed in what appeared to be an almost transparent white nightdress. It fell from one of her shoulders revealing a milk pale collar bone and her delicate throat where her black hair fell in a heavy curtain. One hand held the gown to her chest, gathered up so that it did not trail on the floor. Edward noticed that the gown was torn and as Harker rushed to embrace his wife he also glimpsed the side of her neck where a livid crescent scar marred and puckered the smooth skin. The image of Dracula's mouth on Mina's neck rose unbidden in Edward's mind, filling him with a strange arousal. He couldn't take his eyes off the scar. Mina looked up from Harker's shoulder where she had buried her head and met Edward's eyes, she nodded.

'Yes Edward, he has me too.' Her voice was soft but even so Edward could hear the pained longing and sadness in her tone. He looked away. Harry stepped forward to speak.

'What do you mean Mina? Who has you? And Edward?' his voice sounded rough and Edward turned to look at the confusion and rising anger in Harry's face. He put out a hand but Harry pulled away. Mina bowed her head, giving Edward a glance of apology.

'Dracula has bitten me Harry.' Edward tried to make Harry look into his eyes but the boy was looking at the floor, his raven hair falling over his glasses so that all Edward could see was his mouth, pulled into an angry straight line. It looked like he was trying not to cry. Edward tilted Harry's chin to meet those green eyes filled with hurt.

'I couldn't stop him, I tried but...' Edward's voice was so raw, Harry had to look at him, had to see what emotion was burning in Edward's eyes. 'I couldn't. He bit me, here.' Edward took Harry's hand and placed it on his cold throat. Harry's fingers traced the silver scar like a half moon. He felt Edward shudder under his touch.

'Did you like it?' even to himself Harry's voice sounded cold. Edward moved away stung by his tone and Mina Harker stepped between them as Harry's magic began to flow from his fingertips. She touched him lightly on the chest, a whisper of a caress. Harry looked up at her.

'Dracula's bite is full of power Harry.' Her voice was musical and he could hear that she was not only explaining this to Harry but to Jonathan too. Suddenly Harry realised what these two had been through together for years and years as Dracula toyed with them, with their emotions and their bodies. 'It brings forth the monster we try to hide. It summons the beast from our stolen blood and the creature fawns for his touch. Do you understand Harry?' He knew she wasn't just asking for his understanding. 'Not even the most powerful of us can resist him. I have seen others try and fail.'

Harry looked at Mina's anguished expression and down to where Harker held her hand tightly in his. They were still together despite all that Dracula had done to them; their love was still strong, maybe even stronger because it had survived the abuse. He looked to Edward; he had never seemed more beautiful than he did now. Shame and anger stood out on his finely carved features, the dark brows knitted together and his sharp teeth biting at his lower lip. Harry reached out to him and pulled him into a tight embrace. He grabbed the thick tawny hair and kissed Edward, feeling the hot salty tears pouring down his face as he let go of his fear and mistrust. Edward's white hands reached up and wiped them away and his cold lips kissed Harry fiercely, possessively.

'I'm still yours,' he whispered into the kiss, 'only yours Harry.' Harry felt relief and desire washing through him, weakening his knees and making his head swim. Edward pulled away, trailing his hands down until they held Harry's hands. Mina was smiling, a soft motherly smile contrasting with her wickedly sharp teeth. She stepped forward and held their hands with her own, Harry felt the strength in the deceptively bird like bones. Harker stepped forward and placed his own large, warm hands on theirs.

'You can't let him beat you.' Harker's voice shook with emotion. 'He can't have you as he has had us,' his eyes flashing with anger briefly met Mina's, 'we must take this chance to stop him!'

They stood, each looking at the other, determination and strength in their expressions. Mina was the first to break the spell.

'This way is Dracula's great chamber,' she spoke firmly with a leader's voice. 'We have to go this way to get out of the tunnels; it's the only way out.' She turned, her robe drifting around her like a ghost. She stepped out into the flickering torchlight, a small pebble skittered across the floor dislodged by her foot. There was a grating noise of stone on stone and the roof of the cavern in front of them pulled back to reveal the night sky, twinkling with diamond stars. As one they all looked up, feeling the fresh night air on their faces. Behind and in front of them heavy iron doors slammed to the ground, sealing them off from the way they had come and barring the way ahead.

As they looked at each other the light began to change, the night sky beginning to pale and a golden tinge touching the edges of the square of sky above them. Dawn was coming. The sun was rising.


	34. Chapter 34

Edward moved first, his slim fingers gouging the stone beneath the heavy iron door. He clawed desperately at the stone, slivers of rock spitting out behind his hands as they worked in blur. After a moment he stopped, Harry saw the two smooth holes he had dug from the ground. Edward's muscles screamed as he put his fingers under the door and tried to push it back up the way it had come. It was no good; it was wedged into the solid rock somehow. In an instant he knew that this was a trap designed for vampires. He looked back to Harry who was already getting his wand from his pocket. He stepped back to give the wizard room.

'Reducto!' shouted Harry, his voice echoing in the tight chamber. He pointed his wand at the door, willing the magic to work. It didn't. There was a loud bang but the door was intact. From behind his he heard a groan, it was Harker. He had his head in his hands and it looked to Harry like he might be about to pull out his hair in frustration.

'It won't work!' he hissed through his teeth in rage. 'There's a spell cast on the metal that repels all magic' He looked up into Harry's questioning expression. 'It's my spell,' he explained, 'I put it there on the Count's orders. These tunnels have been booby trapped for centuries, to protect his hiding place. They've never been triggered before; I'd forgotten all about them...' his voice faded away as he took in the sight of Mina crouched in the farthest corner looking fearfully up into the sky above them.' Oh god Mina,' he crouched beside her, 'I'm so sorry, my love.'

Edward took in the crouching pair, the absolute terror in Mina's eyes and realised that she would burn alive when the sun came up. Harry must have come to the same conclusion because he went over to Mina and made her look into his eyes.

'Mina,' his voice was firm, commanding, 'look at me Mina. The sun is coming up but you will not die, do you understand?' Mina looked up at Harry, her face a blank mask of panic, blood tears streaking her face with crimson. She shook her head uncomprehendingly. Edward tried to explain.

'Mina, vampire's minds are very powerful. If you believe a thing then it will be. Do you understand Mina? This is why there are so many different sorts of vampire. We all believe different things!' Edward saw a light behind the despair in Mina's eyes but then it was extinguished and he could hear the self doubt in her mind. He shook her shoulders roughly.' It's true! You have to believe you will not burn Mina and you will be safe!' He turned to Harker, grabbing his arm tightly, ignoring the wince of pain from the older man.' Tell her! For god's sake, Harker she has to believe!'

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Zillah had heard the footsteps behind him the instant he had left the hall and he shrank into the shadows, willing them to disguise his form from his pursuer. He watched as Mina hurried down the tunnel, her robe trailing in the dirty floor behind her. He cast an appreciative glance at her smooth white back as her feet whispered past him done the corridor. Her black hair fell heavily down her back and she held one hand out to steady herself against the stone walls. When she was out of earshot Zillah emerged from the shadows. Stealthily he followed, pausing occasionally to catch the scent of her and the sound of her hurried steps. In the distance he heard speaking, voices rose in anger, he could not make out the words but he felt sure the voices belonged to Harry and Edward. He quickened his pace and rounded the rough corner just in time to see the iron door slam down with a clang of finality. He heard the scratching under the door and Harry's muffled spell and then silence. There was some speaking behind the door, it sounded as though the iron must be very thick for he could only make out the barest of whispers. He slid his fingers beneath the door and pulled upwards with all his strength, the iron screamed against the rocky roof of the chamber but it did not move an inch.

'Hello?' he shouted his mouth close to the metal of the door.

'Zillah?' the voice was unmistakably Edward's soft American accent. 'We're trapped!'

Zillah smiled to himself despite the tension of the situation, how obvious.

'I know!' he shouted back, 'I can't get the door to move. Can you go back the way you came?'

'No!' Edward's voice sounded raw, 'there's another door that way too. And Zillah, the roof's fallen away; we're exposed to the sky!' Zillah took in the whole situation, he could feel the sun was rising, the tingling on his skin had been warning him of the dawn for the last twenty minutes.

'Who's in there with you?' Zillah knew that sunlight didn't bother Edward from the conversations he'd had with Harry but from the desperate sound of his voice someone in there had a problem with sunlight.

'Mina and Harker!' There was no mistaking the panic in Edward's voice now. Harry heard it from where he was standing over the crouched form of Mina Harker. He was trying to shield her from the breaking dawn which was stealing its golden fingers into the deep well which trapped them. Jonathan was crouched with her, whispering in her ear, persuading her of Harry's assertion. She only had to believe for it to be safe.

'Mina!' he whispered fiercely,' moonlight's is only reflected sunlight! Modern science has proved it Mina! Men have walked on the moon and seen it to be true!' Her frightened eyes skittered from his face into the lightening sky above them and the fear stood out on her face. Harry thought he had never seen anyone so frightened in his life.

'Mina, you must believe him!' Harker pleaded desperately, holding his hands out, fanning the fingers to shield her face. She began to cry.

'Edward, we need you!' Harry shouted to Edward as he turned to see the faint yellow light flooding the chamber. Mina began to scream.

In desperation Zillah threw himself at the iron door, denting the metal in his attempt to break through. The banging echoed around the inside of the chamber, pounding in time with Harry's heart as the temperature grew from the rising sun.

Mina was trying to compose herself, trying to stop the tears of panic pouring down her face. Jonathan held her face in his hands compelling her to be calm, believe, live. Harry and Edward stood back, their eyes wide with horror and pity as they took in the scene.

Mina's skin began to smoke, whipping curls rising from her skin in a mockery of the magic her husband was pouring into her desperately attempting to counteract the sun's rays. It was no use, the milk white skin began to char: Mina began to melt into a sepia image of herself. It reminded Harry of when he'd seen cinematic film burn, exposed to the light for too long. The brown skin gave way to black, her face horribly distorted, her bright, pleading eyes hideous in the burning flesh. It began to crumbling, delicately falling away from her bones until they too melted into ashes. Jonathan held her body until it crumbled in his hands, leaving him sobbing piteously into the pile of smoking dust which had been the woman he had loved for over a century. The glorious sunlight played over the scene, turning to diamonds the motes of dust which floated lightly in the air. Harry and Edward could only stare on in horror as Zillah's frantic pounding at the door drew silent as he felt the dawn rise behind the door.

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	35. Chapter 35

Lady Elizabeth swept on before the three other vampire women, her long blue velvet cape clearing a smooth path in her wake. Despite their strength the two guards struggled to keep up with the more fragile looking woman. Carmilla followed quietly behind, her sensitive hearing alert for anyone who might try to halt their progress.

Lady Elizabeth held up a tapering white hand, Carmilla peered ahead but could not see anything in the gloom of the chamber before them. Then they all heard a slow, repetitive banging. It sounded hollow and metallic, like an eerie drum. In the distance Carmilla could make out a lone figure hopelessly battering at what appeared to be a black metal door. The Countess glided silently until she was within reaching distance of the figure who had ceased his frantic attempt to break down through the obstacle before him and was now crouched in a still form on the dusty floor of the passage. The figure looked up, his eyes widened in surprise. He stood a fluid, graceful movement.

'Lady Elizabeth of Bathory, ladies.' His bow was formal and Roman. Carmilla took in his great stillness and the alabaster pallor of his skin and guessed that he was much older even than that long dead empire. His keen eyes swept over their small band and met briefly with Carmilla's gaze. She was taken aback by his obvious magnetism; even for a vampire, his glamour was powerful.

Lady Elizabeth swept forward, her white hand extended. Zillah touched the hand with his own, the barest and briefest of gestures, it was quite clear where the authority lay between the two of them. Zillah returned his interest to the rest of the group.

'How do you come to be in this place?' His voice was smooth without surprise or accent. There was no indication of his age in his use of grammar or language such as Carmilla had come across before with older vampires. He had obviously successfully blended with the times. This made him more dangerous.

'We are attempting to escape...' Lady Elizabeth's mouth rose faintly in a small smile, 'as it would appear are you, Zillah.' Zillah smiled a widely in return.

'On the contrary my lady, I am trying to get though this door. Should I have wished to leave I would have achieved my goal long ago.' Carmilla heard more voices behind them; she whirled to meet the new arrivals, her dress fanning out around her feet.

'Looks like we're missing a party!' Spike crowed loudly, then, seeing the frown on Zillah's face he dropped his voice to a whisper. 'Zillah? Bloody 'ell mate, it's been a while.' The stillness in the cavern broke as Zillah and Spike clasped hands and thumped each other loudly on the back.

'Am I forgiven for our last meeting?' Zillah grinned into Spike's blue eyes which at first narrowed and then he laughed again.

'Can't blame you for tryin' can I?' He ran a hand through his bleached hair, 'I'm an 'andsome bastard ain't I?' He laughed again, turning to the two other vampires who had arrived with him. 'Mitchell, Sir Francis, this is my good friend Zillah, ancient as the hills and more persistent than a bulldog.' Mitchell nodded and Sir Francis bowed. Zillah's returning bow was low and agile. Spike walked to the metal door and banged on it loudly with his hand.

'What's in 'ere then?' He asked cocking his head towards the door. From behind it there was a muffled noise, Spike put his ear to the metal and listened. He looked back at Zillah, his eyes bright.

'Edward Cullen? And the wizard boy? How'd they end up behind this then?'He banged the door again. Zillah strode to where Spike stood and looked up at the great door.

'It seems to have just come down, some sort of trap I'd imagine.' He stroked the door wistfully with his pale hand. 'I've been trying to get in to them for a while now. They're trapped and the chamber is exposed to the daylight. Mina Harker is in there... or she was. 'He added ruefully shaking his head. The information settled over the vampires like a cold scattering of snow. Mitchell ran his hand through his shoulder length dark hair, Spike looked at his feet. So did Sir Francis, only the women continued to look at the door. Spike shook himself and spoke up.

'Right, come on then! Let's get that door open and get them out, poor buggers. God knows what it's like in there. Is Harker still with them?' Zillah nodded.

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Edward looked in horror at the place where moments ago Mina Harker had crouched in terror. Jonathan's sobbing had stopped now and he seemed frozen in grief over the ashes of his wife. Blazing sunlight streamed down into the small space in which they were trapped. Harry touched his arm; he looked up into the tender green eyes, streaking the grimy face with tears. Without thinking he raised his hand to wipe them away, Harry grasped the hand and stared at it.

'What?' began Edward looking at his hand as though some mystery might be written upon it. Harry shook his head as there was a banging on the door behind them. Edward looked up; Harry could almost see the concentration he was putting into listening to what was behind the door. Then Edward straightened himself and spoke.

'Spike and Zillah now, behind the door.' He moved to place his mouth close to the metal; he projected his voice to be heard on the other side of the thick obstacle between the two parties. 'Zillah, there's bright sunlight in here now. If you manage to move the door then it's going to flood your side of the chamber. Get anyone who's sensitive to sunlight around a corner until we can find a way to block it off.' Harry heard Spike's voice reverberating through the door.

'Ok chief! That leaves Sir Francis, Mitchell, Carmilla and Lady Elizabeth. The rest of us will go back down the passage until you've worked out some sort of block for the sun!'

Edward went to the door and put his hands under the metal where he had scraped the holes into the rock. He shouted through the door.

'It seems to go up and back, I can't just lift the door upwards, it's blocked into the rock I think, I'll have to push upwards while you pull back at the same time. Hopefully we can find the way the door came down and push it back!'

'Can you do this alone Edward?' The voice was Mitchell's even through the metal Harry could hear his soft accent. Harry had been wondering the same thing, he stepped forward. Edward turned to him.

'Your blood has made me very strong Harry, stronger than any human blood could have made me. I think I'll be ok. Look after Jonathan; even if we get out of this his tragedy will follow him.' They both looked to where Jonathan still crouched in the sunlight over Mina's remains. Harry got up and put his hand on Harker's still shoulder, the wizard did not look up or even move as Harry crouched beside him.

'Now!' Edward shouted and began to push upwards on the door. On the other side the unlikely workmates huddled uncomfortably together to try to pull the door back as Edward pushed up. Muscles stood out on milk white arms and skin covering fingers began to split and tear as the great door screamed its defiance as it began to inch slowly upwards. Sparks flew out at the metal grated torturously against the jagged rocks surrounding it. Sunlight fired a golden beam under the door and down along the corridor where the other vampires hid from its burning gaze. Edward cupped his fingers under the door now pushing upwards with more leverage as he shifted his weight beneath it. The fingers of the other vampires stood white against the black and ancient iron. This felt strange to them, working with others of their kind to achieve a common goal, strange to all but Edward who was used to working closely with his family, used to the camaraderie. Soon the door was pushed right back and the supernatural muscles felt the weight of it shift as it sat back in its gap where it had been for years before its recent release. They looked at each other in the sunlight streaming down. White faces drawn with exertion, skin on their hands already mending, healing in the light. They smiled at each other, woodenly at first, mechanical grins on their faces used to passing amongst humans and then widely as genuine joy at their shared success sank in to their cold minds. Lady Elizabeth was first to pull back from the emotion.

'How will we cover this light to allow our colleagues access?' Her voice was detached again and distant. 'And even if we can get them through the light, what will we do about that?' She pointed a long finger imperiously at the other door blocking their way to the great hall. Edward's shoulders slumped. With them all on one side of this new door there was no way they would be able to manoeuvre it back into its gap in the ceiling.

'Isn't there another way?' Spike's voice called from where he was standing, his feet inches away from the bright shaft of sunlight which scoured the chamber like a search light. Edward shook his head, remembering what Mina had said before...he turned back to where Jonathan still hunched on the ground. The movement of the door had caused a draft and a small eddy of ashes curled around his still figure as though they were trying to coax him to get back up.

'Harry?' Edward asked, looking as Harry stood and pushed back the heavy lock of hair which had fallen over his glasses. He had his wand out, pointing at the door again but he didn't look hopeful.

'Reducto!' his voice echoed in the narrow passage sounding dully off the metal of the door. Nothing happened. The sunlight glittered down around them, the door, impenetrable and implacable stood in front of them.

Harker stood, dust swirling around him like a cloud of raindrops. It danced around him, gently falling like a slow snowstorm. He pointed an arm stiffly at the door. The wand he held was taut with anger and hatred, hurt and pain. He lifted his head, his dark hair falling back from his face. Harry held his breath unconsciously; he had never seen an expression like the one now on Harker's face. Every line screamed at him, power streamed from the eyes and the mouth opened in a wide angry gash.

'REDUCTO!' the wizard roared his voice clamorous in the silence. For a moment all was as it had been before and then, with a sound like a woman's gentle tinkling voice, the door crumbled softly before them. It fell apart, gently raining its ancient dust onto the chamber floor, where it mingled with the ashes of Mina Harker.

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	36. Chapter 36

For a moment everyone was frozen. The iron rust which had been the door floated in the sunlight, its coppery glinting illuminating the grief stricken face of Jonathan Harker. He slowly lowered his hand and crouched back down on the floor. It was as though he had not moved. Edward looked to Harry and saw his astonishment at what had just happened. Lady Elizabeth was coolly distant, examining the healing skin on her hands. Sir Francis, his mouth agape, stared unselfconsciously at Harker's hunched form. Carmilla was looking at the dust swirling around them with an expression of horror. Mitchell was crying, tears flowing freely down his face, smudging the dirty stains on his cheeks. Edward was struck for a moment at their contrasting reactions. Even in this they were dissimilar.

'What the fuck?' Spike's shout echoed down the chamber. He was shielding his eyes from the light and edging back to the wall as the rising sun slanted across the dusty floor towards him like a golden wolf. Harry crouched next to Harker whispering in his ear.

'Jonathan, the sunlight, you've got to use the 'nox' charm to block it out or else more people will...' his voice trailed off reluctant to say the words. Harker did not move. 'Jonathan I'm not powerful enough, I can't...' Harry shook the silent man's shoulder gently. Harker's reaction was to point his wand upwards, like a child he held his arm close to his body, making himself as small as possible.

'Nox,' he whispered and the sunlight was snuffed gently out like a candle on a birthday cake. Harry felt all the vampires' relief; even the ones who could withstand sunlight seemed to be more comfortable in the dark. Maybe it was their nature, he thought, the nature of a predator.

Spike, Zillah and the guards came quickly up to the rest of the group. Harker was being helped gently to his feet by Mitchell who was speaking to him softly. Spike nudged Harry.

'Works in a hospital he does,' he confided quietly, 'he's used to dealing with the injured. He was at Ypres too.' He pronounced it 'Eep', when Harry looked confused Spike explained. 'World War One, mate. Bloody awful mess.' Spike eyes took on a wistful expression as he looked at Mitchell comforting Harker. 'Bloody awful,' he repeated. Harry nodded, would he ever cease to be surprised at what these creatures had seen? No wonder some of them were ruthless killers and others had gone 'vegetarian' as Edward had put it. Their experiences had made them who they were, just like humans, he thought.

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Dracula felt the removal of his trap like a toothache. It stung and throbbed inside him, goading him into anger by its pain. He wasn't surprised that they had managed to escape the cell he had created for them, just that they had escaped so soon. And so few of them had been taken out of the game, he thought wryly, as he twisted the hair of the boy nearest to him, encouraging a shrill scream from his bed fellow. He sprawled back against the plush bed covers, seething. He had become bored of Mina Harker's body decades ago, only the torture her dear husband had felt watching the Count subject her to his whims had kept her alive so long. Even so Dracula was irritated that she had died so easily. Surely Potter had worked it out by now? The Count was relying on the boy's genius to deliver him from his limitations. If he had the solution then why hadn't he used it to help Mina? Maybe the dilemma had spurred the boy on? Made him think harder? Her death would not have been entirely in vain although Dracula wished he'd been there to savour Harker's pain as he watched his wife burn to cinders. He felt his body harden with desire thinking of the exquisite torture Harker must be feeling. Such a pity he could not see it for himself and must only imagine the anguish, the weeping. Oh well, the Count caressed his companion's body roughly pulling him across the bed to settle his lips over his growing arousal, he would have to settle for imagining. Soon enough the companions would be in the great hall and he still had an ace up his sleeve, he looked down at his naked body, or hidden somewhere, he smiled to himself.

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Now that the path before them was clear Harry felt some anxiety about what they were going to face. Dracula was strong, he already knew that, but the callous murder of \mina Harker had shocked him more than he had realised. Jonathan's reaction was so intense, what else would it be thought Harry to himself bitterly. What would my reaction be if I had seen that happen to Edward, he shuddered and tried to shake away the image in his head. Edward's beautiful face crumbling into black ashes in his hands. Of course sunlight wouldn't kill Edward but Dracula would have thought of that. Harker said the traps had been in place a long time, long enough for the Count to learn about the other vampire abilities and adapt? Harry thought so.

Edward was planning ahead, thinking of how they could best out smart Dracula. They were outnumbered if Zillah's account of Dracula's minions was anything to go by and Dracula had the upper hand in controlling the vampire in Edward. Could he stop him if the count decided to reach out that hand again? Edward didn't know, his think eyebrows furrowed together and he tried to feel inside him for the creature which Dracula held on a leash. From inside there was a growling, a feral animosity which shocked Edward. He had never felt so separated from himself before. Was this good? Had his love for Harry splintered him in ways he was only now realising? He shook his head to clear these dark thoughts swarming his mind. He had no time for philosophy; all he could do is go ahead and do his best. He squared his shoulders and looked around. The other vampires were standing in twos and threes talking quietly. It was hard for them, he realised, working together. They were used to solitary pursuits of life. Only Mitchell and Spike, the two with the most human friends, although Edward wasn't sure that a Slayer, a witch, a werewolf and a ghost could be strictly classed as human. The thought pulled a small smile from the edges of his full mouth. He felt a hot hand in his and looked to see Harry beside him, staring up into his face with a wondering expression. Edward traced the corner of Harry's mouth with his marble cold finger and watched as Harry sucked the finger into his mouth, the wet heat of his tongue caressing its length. Edward felt familiar desire rising inside him. He wondered at it, that even now in this crisis he could still feel so much lust and longing for this boy. With his free hand he pushed back Harry's black hair and ran his hand down the soft warm cheek. Harry realised the finger and smiled up into the topaz eyes. He rested his cheek on the white hand and reached up to pull Edward down to kiss him. The kiss was long and lingering; it spoke of their desire and love. Harry's magick rose out of him like wings and folded over Edward's body, holding him close, caressing him with tingling fingers of light. The kiss reinforced their feelings for each other, assured each one that those feelings were mutual.

'When we get out of this...' Harry whispered into Edward's kiss. The fire between them grew as Edward nodded mutely and Harry opened his mouth and felt that cold hard tongue penetrating him, owning him utterly. They broke apart, resting their foreheads together each looking into the other's eyes almost to the soul.

'Then we'll be together forever,' Edward promised, his voice hoarse with longing.

A laugh from the other side of the chamber broke their attention. Zillah was bent double laughing at Spike who was wearing a very strange expression, somewhere between happiness and embarrassment.

'A Slayer!' Zillah was gasping out, clapping a long hand on Spike's black leather clad shoulder, 'oh man, that is ... it's just... 'He started to laugh again.

'Yeah, girl's got superhuman powers, know what I mean?' Spike was grinning now. He nodded almost to himself. 'Oh yeah, superhuman. Knocked a house down once while we were...' he seemed to realise there were others present. 'Anyway, yeah. She's a one!' he ended smiling. Zillah pulled himself together and slapped Spike on the back again.

'Nice one man!' he laughed. He and Spike nodded together, their eyes shining.

'What about you? Still hanging around with that posh bloke?' Spike's voice took on a comical upper-class accent, 'dear boy! How terribly spiffing.' Zillah laughed harder, nodding.

'Yep, still with Ruthven. Man, he is fun to be around.' He stopped laughing abruptly, his body and face suddenly motionless with that unearthly stillness that never failed to surprise Harry. Zillah turned his attention to harry and Edward. 'He's in there,' he said quietly, 'Ruthven's in the great hall. He's hidden so Dracula might not know he's there but...' he ended and it was obvious that the danger he had left Ruthven in was only just occurring to him. Harry wondered why everyone seemed to think he was in charge? Then he stood away from Edward's embrace and into the centre of the chamber, all vampire eyes, cold and glinting in the torchlight were on him, the only person not looking at him was Harker who was staring dully at the floor by his feet.

'We'd better get going, I guess the Count knows we've escaped by now, he will have felt Mina's...' he cast around for the right word. 'What happened to Mina.' He hurried on, 'so we have no element of surprise. I think we have to create one.' He turned to Edward, knowing that what he was about to ask was going to be the hardest thing he'd had to do since he'd met this beautiful vampire. Edward raised an eyebrow questioningly. 'Edward, I think you'll have to pretend to have changed your mind about... well things.' He ended lamely and then carried on.' You have to convince Dracula that you've surrendered to him, that you are going to betray us all. I don't know how you'll do it but...' Edward's face was a mask, still and smooth, expressionless. Then the mask broke and the torment he was feeling broke the surface of his calm expression. He twisted his mouth and shrugged, not meeting Harry's eyes as he looked at the floor. Spike interrupted, breaking the tension.

'I think 'arry's right eddy boy,' he swung an affectionate arm over Edward's still shoulders. 'It'll leave a nasty taste in your mouth but it's out only hope.' He looked blankly at harry as he said his next line. 'I think Edward will have to do something extreme to convince the count this is the real deal. .Something really extreme, like feed from a... human.' Harry's gaze automatically went to Edward's and he wished it hadn't. Edward's jaw was clenched, his eyes closed as though he had known what spike was going to say, of course he did know thought harry, he had known before any of us did. He could only imagine how hard this must be for Edward, after years of being so controlled, so civilised to have to resort to these depths to survive, to keep them all alive. It was the only situation harry could think of where Edward would even consider such drastic action. Harry held his breath as Edward nodded once, his eyes still closed. Mitchell crossed to where Edward was standing and out his hand on his arm, Edward didn't shrug him off.

'I think Edward needs some time alone to work this out,' he said kindly, 'he'll have to do this on his own, to convince Dracula he's gone rogue. Make it look like a secret right? Like Edward's crept away to feed and then come back like nothing's happened. Can you do it Edward?' Mitchell didn't meet Edward's dark gaze, his amber eyes boring out from under his knitted brows; his shoulders hunched, hands in pickets stance screaming 'leave me alone' as clearly as if he'd shouted the words. He nodded again.

'Where will he find this human?' Lady Elizabeth was practical and her voice was crisp, business like.

'There's humans further down the passage, towards the hall.' Spike pointed and wrinkled his nose. 'I can smell 'em.' He added shrugging an apology to harry or Edward, it was hard to tell.

'I need a minute.' Edward's voice was cold, distant and harry could sense the resolve in it, the determination to get them out, no matter what the cost. In that moment he felt something happen that he hadn't imagined possible, his love for Edward grew a little more. The feeling washed over him and he looked with awe at the amazing creature who was risking all he held dear for him, Harry Potter.

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Edward stalked the short dark passage. The scent of the human's blood was in his nostrils and he fought to stay in control over the monster whose bonds he had freed ever so slightly. Even so, the thrill of the hunt was in him and the blood lust high. He planned to let the human live, to drink enough to convince Dracula of his new intentions, to let the Count feel him hunt and feed. His body sang with the love of the hunter for the chase and deep inside him the beast crouched, ready to pounce, to tear and savour the of fresh human blood running down his throat, over his chin, down his chest as his victim, he shuddered at the word, struggled feebly against his hard, cold muscles.

The torch lights flickered adding to the drama of the scene. Edward's muscles moved smoothly moving him forward silently. The topaz eyes scanned the scene before him; the young human male was standing, leaning, in the doorway ahead, facing away from Edward. His exposed throat, his shirt open loosely at the neck, begged to be savaged. Edward took in the toned muscled body, the beauty of the smooth pale skin, flushed with the wine that dripped from the goblet in his drooping hand, and realised this must be one of the count's human playmates. Even as Edward was relieved that the boy was drunk, that he would hardly know what was happening to him, the beast inside revelled in the enjoyment it would have in biting down on the smooth skin, ripping at the throat until the warm blood pumped slowly into his mouth. The boy sighed to himself and leaned back against the wall, slightly turning his body to Edward. He peered into the shadows and saw the monster crouched in the darkness.

I'm in luck, the boy thought to himself as he took in the toned body of the vampire watching him. He ran a lustful glance up and down the tightly muscled chest, the long, strong legs and the obvious excitement showing on this gorgeous vampire body before him. The creature's topaz eyes burned with lust and the glamour spreading from its gaze made his knees feel weak. Just what he had hoped for when he'd left the sleeping chambers. The Count was fun but he fancied a bit of a change. Now this was a change, he thought as the creature took a silent step towards him.

'Hey handsome,' he called in a low voice, heavy with desire, 'looking for someone?' The creature blinked, a slow shutting of the eyes, as it breathed his scent in, the nostrils slightly flared. The boy dropped the goblet of wine onto the floor where it splashed and rolled away into a corner. In a heartbeat, the boy could feel it pounding in his chest as the creature approached him; the vampire was in front of him. It was deathly still as though drinking in the sight of him, the essence of him. Amber eyes looked into his soul and the boy felt his breath catch in his throat, god this vampire was gorgeous. Glamour pooled around him, softening his movements like a drug. Slowly, never leaving the vampire's gaze, he couldn't seem to drag his eyes away, the boy slowly trailed a hand down his own chest in a lazy gesture which ended with his touching himself. He was hard; he'd never been harder, not even with the Count. The vampire's eyes followed the hand like a cat watching a mouse. The look was seductive, suggestive. The boy's heart raced faster and he stretched out his other hand to touch the mesmerising creature before him. The skin was cold as he mirrored his actions on the body of the vampire who looked down to watch the hand's slow progress over his body. Over the powerfully, muscled chest, smooth and icy as marble under the loose shirt he wore, down over the navel, down over the waistband of the low slung jeans, down until it brushed at the hardness it found. The boys' breathing was ragged now. His mind was wild, imagining the taste of this vampire in his throat; the white hands in his hair holding him down, making him take more, harder, faster. He stroked more insistently now, his gaze held by the topaz eyes. The vampire reached out a hand to him; it seemed to take forever, grabbed his shirt and pulled the boy close to him. The icy cold skin of its chest stung the boys nipples as he felt himself pressed again the vampire's body, the hips crushing his hand against the vampire's hardness. One long, powerful hand held his head while the other snaked between them and began to stroke the boy's straining erection. The boy sucked in air noisily, aroused beyond caring about who might hear. The friction of the cold hand deliberate and just slow enough to tease and torment. The full mouth dipped to brush his throat and his pulse beat wildly under the skin, hot and urgent. The vampire's hand quickened its pace and they boy felt himself spiralling into orgasm; his hot hands clutched the vampire's hair, his shirt, pulling him closer, closer. The cold mouth sucked hungrily on his searing , burning skin, the teeth resting with infinite care on the throbbing vein in his throat. As the boy came, the strong jaws bit down, causing his body to spasm more violently than before. Blood began to pump freely from the gaping wound as the crashing wave of orgasm caused the heart to beat wildly. The vampire lifted the boy's feet from the floor as it drank, hungry jaws crushing the slender neck. His legs dangled, kicking slightly in his death throes and he fell limp, forever.

Edward felt the boy's life ebb away and was powerless to stop the creature he had unleashed. He tried frantically to pull back to reclaim his body as his own. As the heart gave its final beat he felt himself orgasm. Sick and disgusted with himself he let the body drop to the floor.

In the great chamber Dracula felt the rush of Edward's orgasm, tasted the sweet blood thickly running down his throat and smiled. His boy had come home.

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	37. Chapter 37

Harry saw Spike raise his head, the other vampires were aware of something too; they sniffed the air like hounds scenting the hunt. Mitchell's eyes widened and he looked to Spike for confirmation of something. Spike nodded the briefest of gestures. Harry turned to face him, green eyes scanning Spike's face as he spoke.

'What? What just happened? Did Edward do it? Did he... feed?' The last word came out as a horse whisper. Somewhere inside him a voice was saying, 'don't ask Harry, you don't want to know. Stop asking.' But he couldn't, he had to know. Spike looked embarrassed, like he would have blushed if his alabaster cheeks had been capable. He nodded, hiding something.

'Yeah...he's fed... he'll be back soon I think. You can ask him yourself.' He turned away, walking quickly to Mitchell's side, talking in a low whisper they walked a short way off and turned their backs. Harry didn't like it. He looked at the other vampires. Sir Francis was standing with the silent form of Harker, his hand hovering near the wizard's shoulder uncertain whether his touch would be welcome. Lady Elizabeth stood near the female Vikings, aloof and distant from the group her eyes swept over their faces, taking in every slight gesture, every nuance. She was one to watch the inner voice warned Harry soberly. Then his gaze fell onto Carmilla and he held back a gasp of shock at the expression on her face.

She had just swept her long dark hair back from her face with those delicate hands, her lips were parted slightly, wet and scarlet they stood out in her pallid face. Her eyes were open wide and there was no mistaking the arousal in her expression. she seemed to taste the air before her like a snake with its tongue, her hands clenching and opening at her side as she fought to gain control over herself. She wound her gown in one hand, pulling the fabric taut across her thighs and ran the other hand through her hair again, shaking her head as though to rid herself of the feeling, there was something...exposed about her posture, thought Harry as he watched her. He felt almost voyeuristic seeing her so...moved. But by what? He had no answer. His attention was quickly distracted as a noise behind him. The vampires swivelled their heads seconds before Harry could turn. Their intensity scared him.

The intruder was a tall man with red brown skin; even under his colouring his vampire pallor was evident, highlighting his chiselled features. His face was angular and his nose and cheekbones were pronounced above his full red mouth. His jet black hair was long and straight. It fell over his shoulders like a raven waterfall; it was even more beautiful than Carmilla's ebony tresses. Harry, who felt he should be used by now to vampire beauty, still felt a little awe at the physical attraction of the man. He stood with the easy grace of a hunter and, although he had obviously moved with some speed to the chamber – none of the other vampires had noted his coming until moments before he had appeared, he seemed to be statue still. A small smile played around his mouth as he took in the sight of the mismatched group. He laid a strong fist over his heart and bowed. It was then Harry noticed his clothes. Unlike the other vampires Harry had met, who seemed to wear either modern clothes of the clothes of their century, this vampire wore suede skins. His trousers were tight to his thighs and the powerful muscles were evident under the soft beige of the animal hide which covered them. He wore nothing to cover his chest but a wide strap of leather. The same type of strap held his long hair back from his face. Around his wrist and ankle was a bracelet of bright turquoise beads, a thin leather strand dangled a black feather from the beads at his wrist. His broad strong feet were bare. He spoke and his voice was deep and echoed in the cavern.

'Greetings, my name is Laughing Bear.' He looked at the group and Harry saw recognition in the eyes of Zillah and Spike. 'I believe you are here to escape the one who the breathing men call Dracula.' This was a statement not a question. Zillah nodded silently, the other vampires stayed quiet. Even Spike, Harry noted seemed to be in awe of this big man. The man nodded his head in reply, his hair falling over one shoulder revealing an intricate tribal tattoo covering one of his arms. It looked like some kind of bird but Harry couldn't be sure. 'I will come with you. I am tired of this place.' He folded his arms, an indication that he had finished speaking. No one said anything, the silence was uncomfortable and Harry felt the urge to say something, anything, to break the tension in the room from becoming unbearable. He didn't need to; behind him Edward cleared his throat politely.

Edward stood in the doorway, his clothes crumpled and stained. Harry didn't want to look at the marks on his clothes but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the black smear down the front of Edward's shirt, crusting in the buttonholes and ending where his jeans began. Edward's eyes were dark garnet red, they glinted dangerously and as Harry watched Edward run his hand through his messy hair, the gesture looked as though it was a familiar movement perpetrated on an alien, unfamiliar body. Harry realised he was looking at Edward's beast, barely under the surface, just contained enough to stand in front of him and not kill him where he stood. He took a breath and held it, unconsciously. The creature using Edward's body smiled a slow, lazy, suggestive smile and wiped its mouth with the back of its hand. The gesture seemed to be in slow motion and Harry watched with grotesque fascination as the lips dragged along the white skin and back into the smile. Edward leaned a hand on the entrance to the chamber, one leg crossed, relaxed and obviously sated but his eyes were bright and too quick in this confident and satisfied face. Harry knew he should look away, shouldn't give this creature an inch. He knew that Edward would be trying to control it, force it back inside him and that this eye contact was arousing the monster, feeding it with his fear and... attraction he realised with a gulp. It was seductive, this languid, smiling monster. This creature which lived for its appetites, its desire. So different from his Edward, Harry thought wildly, but then in the same body, with the same face, the same hands the same...body. Harry tried to pull his gaze from the creature's dangerously beautiful face. As if it read his mind it trailed a slow hand down its body stopping to rest over its crotch. Harry jumped at the gesture and he saw the creature open its mouth wide, exposing white, wicked teeth. It laughed, the sound was a dark mockery of Edward's laugh and Harry succeeded in looking away. The other vampires were motionless, not a breath or whisper stirred their faces as they assessed this new predator in their midst. Zillah broke the spell.

'Edward.' He stepped forward and grasped the arm, hanging lazily now at the monster's side. The creature looked down at Zillah's hand and Harry thought it would growl, then it shook itself like a dog.

'Zillah.' Edward's voice shook slightly and he dropped his gaze from Harry's blushing face. When he looked up again the face was Edward's. Only his eyes, garnet red, betrayed the beast within.

This one's for Rin (what up homegirl? Is that right? Grin). You internet stalker you!

Hey review me please!!! Pretty please!!


	38. Chapter 38

Harry couldn't take his eyes off Edward's languid grace as he moved further into the room, rejoining the group. There was something in the way that Harry could see the barely contained primal creature that hypnotised and attracted him. Maybe it was the contrast between the controlled and civilised Edward he knew and this monster who clearly knew no boundaries. It was something Harry had glimpsed in their lovemaking, in the sparkling moments of release when Edward had lain open, exposed to him. Harry had felt some power in his ability to do that to Edward, to flay him and leave him raw and vulnerable. There was nothing vulnerable about this Edward ,Harry thought watching as the monster ran a hand through his hair and leaned on a elbow casually, more relaxed and confident than Harry had ever seen him. Harry found himself imagining that hand on his body, demanding obedience and submission from him. Startled by his body's reaction he cleared his throat. Edward turned to him and, for a split second, the beast grinned and licked its wet, red mouth with a tongue that Harry knew would be cold and hard, he cleared his throat again. Edward blinked. The creature was gone, for now.

Laughing Bear stood forward scanning Edward's face intently. He put his hand to his chest.

'Edward Cullen,' his voice broke the silence, 'I am glad that I am not entirely among those who have tamed their thirst.' The grin that split his full mouth wide was all teeth and amusement. Edward stared at him for a long moment.

'A temporary aberration I'm afraid, Laughing Bear,' his voice sounded husky, hoarser than Harry remembered it. It was a voice for whispering words of lust, for calling out your name in the throes of passion. Harry felt himself blushing. Jesus! He swore to himself, get a grip on yourself Potter. You've no time for this... Edward cast a glance over his shoulder to where Harry was now looking down at his feet trying to control his reddening face. Then he turned back to Laughing Bear. 'How did you come to be here?' Laughing Bear frowned at the question. It was clear he didn't want to answer but the polite silence had an impact even on this great hunter.

'I was hunting; I was invited to hunt with the Count. He is renowned as a master of the hunt and I was intrigued by his invitation. It was I who became the quarry.' He bowed his head at these last words, shame dropping in his voice. Edward nodded and put out a hand to touch the red brown skin. Even in this gesture, Harry noticed, the beast could not resist running its fingers lightly over the tattoo curling over Laughing Bear's shoulder. Edward seemed to catch what his hand was doing and pulled it away quickly. Zillah stepped forward.

'Do you think the Count picked up on what you've done Edward? Will he believe that you have betrayed us now?' He stepped to Edward and looked him in the face, Harry could see the power surging between them. It almost looked as though Zillah would kiss Edward, he was so close. Harry thought back to the nightclub all those nights ago. How Edward had been aroused by Zillah's dominance. The tension in the room was becoming unbearable. It was Spike who broke the spell.

'Yeah, he'll buy it. Jesus, Eddie we all felt it here. If I didn't know better I'd think you'd gone to the dark side!' He stepped to Zillah and Edward, still looking into each other's eyes and clapped Edward on the shoulder. Edward stumbled forward from the force of the gesture and Harry knew that Spike had meant to snap them out of it. He's scared, thought Harry, Spike's scared of what Edward might do. The thought made him wonder, Spike didn't seem afraid of anything till now. Not what Edward might do, he corrected himself, what the beast might do. Spike continued speaking; now taking into his glance the rest of the group.

'Right, so, the Count's going to be expecting us now. We'd better get a move on he'll get suspicious. What's the plan?' Without thinking he turned to Harry. He was trying to jump start them into action, Harry realised, break the glamour emanating from Edward like a snare. Harry pushed his hair back from his face, not looking at Edward but feeling the garnet eyes boring into his face all the same.

'Let's just go forward, as if we have no idea that Dracula knows we're coming. What would we do if we didn't know? He'll be expecting Edward to be on his side,' he risked a glance at Edward and the beast grinned a lascivious grin back at him, he wished he hadn't looked. 'So we'll have to play it like that.' Edward, ' this time his gaze was level, no nonsense, 'can you do this? Can you pull back and help us when the Count is least expecting it?' Everyone in the room looked at Edward whose face was showing a genuine struggle. Eventually he spoke.

'I think so.' His voice was quiet, the cockiness gone from it but when he raised his head the beast still held sway. Harry marvelled at the control Edward must have over himself. He hoped it would be enough.

'Right, let's go then.' Harry clapped his hands together and then hoped it didn't look too patronising. The vampires didn't seem to mind. Harry went to Harker; he wanted to talk to him before they had to meet the Count.

Spike and Mitchell took the lead, Sir Francis walking with them in the formation they had used so far in the tunnels. Laughing Bear and Zillah took the rear leaving Lady Elizabeth, the Viking guards, Carmilla and Edward, Harry and Harker in the centre. Edward didn't speak but his red eyes glinted in the torchlight as he moved silently beside them. Harry walked close to Harker ,dropping his voice to whisper a charm to prevent them being overheard. Vampire eyes swivelled to look at him as he whispered silently to the older wizard. Harry met their gaze and shrugged. They turned away and moved on down the corridor, silently like the dead creatures they were.

The entrance to the great chamber was watched by two more Viking guards. Lady Elizabeth pushed delicately passed Spike to glide into their line of sight. Harry could not hear what was said but he watched as their attacking stance softened and their bodies bent towards the Countess, like flowers finding the sun. He heard a low whistle from Spike who turned to whisper back to Harry.

'Bloody 'ell she's got some serious glamour going on hasn't she? I thought your Eddie was charmer but...' he shook his head, obviously impressed. Harry looked to Edward who had turned at his name. The red eyes looked up and down at Harry and a smile formed on the full mouth. It was not quite the smile of a predator but it wasn't all together friendly either. Harry felt his heart start to pound, Edward's eyebrows rose. This is unsettling, thought Harry, I want to trust him, I really do but... his thoughts were distracted by a noise ahead of them. The group was moving forward into the great chamber.

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Ok so short and sweet but I want to get them facing the Count. Please review me!! Just so I know you care. Don't just add me to your favourites; let me know why you're adding me!


	39. Chapter 39

Before they could enter a figure rushed out to stop them. The girl was slight in build and her long golden hair was tied back demurely from her face. Her dress was old fashioned and its pale yellow skirts swept the floor before her. Her outstretched hands were clad in white leather gloves which reached up to her elbows. Her pretty face was stricken with terror and her blue eyes were wide with panic. She held out her hands before her as though to stop their progress.

Harry watched in amazement as Carmilla, with a gasp of recognition, pushed passed him and rushed towards the young girl. The girl too recognised Carmilla, gasping out her name with a pretty English accent as she wrung her hands before her.

'Laura!' Carmilla's voice was breathy and desperate, she held out her hands and the young girl clasped them passionately to her chest, holding them tightly as though she were afraid that Carmilla was a vision who might vanish when she touched her. As Carmilla drew nearer, her hands being pulled by the girl's own embrace, the air around the couple shimmered subtly. Harry felt sure that only he had noticed the flash of scintillation in the air, like a bubble which captured Carmilla and the girl in its circle.

Carmilla was holding the girl's face between her long, white fingers now, stroking back the golden hair. Her demeanour which had been so stately and elegant seemed almost human in its desperation now. Feverishly she kissed the girl deeply, holding her head back and bending the poor creature back so she could taste her mouth with those full red lips. Her other hand stroked the soft white skin of the girl's breast which was framed by the ivory lace of her dress. The girl was holding Carmilla's face with one hand, the fingers stroking the alabaster cheek as she hungrily returned the kisses which Carmilla rained down up her, moving from her mouth to her cheeks, her eyelids. The girl's other hand dangled at her side, hidden in the folds of her dress.

It was this hand which now moved. Carmilla, whispering and murmuring of how she feared she had lost her love, her Laura, didn't see the hand creeping from behind the pale silk. The rest of the group stared in horror as the slim white hand emerged from the hanging folds of the dress. In it was a sharp pointed, wooden stake.

In the sudden flurry of movement Sir Francis was the first to leap at the girl, his arm outstretched to bat away the weapon she clutched in her hand. The air around the two women seemed to shimmer and time seemed to slow down. Harry saw in horror Sir Francis slowly starting to dissolve as his momentum brought him into contact with the glittering air. His hands, his arms, simply melted away. There was no residue, no dust to show for his passing just a silent erasing of his form as he came into contact with the sparkle of, what Harry now realised, must be magic. The whole event must have taken only a few moments, none of the other vampires had time to strike before he was gone. It was though he had never existed.

Before anyone had chance to register what had happened, before Harry had time to process what he had just seen, the Viking guard sprung towards Carmilla. This time the scene flashed before Harry's eyes so fast he barely registered it. The guards were simply gone. Torchlight flickered in the wake of air made by their leaping and then settled again.

Why wasn't anyone moving? Speaking? Screaming? Harry thought in horror, as his mind whirled at the scene before him. Now the girl had the stake poised at Carmilla's back, directly behind her heart. The vampire, oblivious to her impending fate, still showering kisses on the pretty face. Harry tried to look at Edward, at Spike, but he couldn't move his head. He swivelled his eyes frantically trying to see the reaction of his friends. They too seemed mesmerised, held in whatever spell had captured him in its embrace.

In a long torturous moment the girl brought the stake down. Harry could see its sharp point pierce first the dress and then the flesh of Carmilla's back. He saw the blood well up from the wound and the look of betrayal and anguish on Carmilla's ethereal face as she felt the penetration of the stake. Slowly the blood pooled around the wound, pouring out over the girl's lily white hand and dripping heavily down her arm, smearing her lemon yellow dress with thick, dark blood. Carmilla fell forward, the girl stepping smartly out from beneath her victim and rolling her onto her back on the floor. Carmilla's long body writhed in pain, her eyes wide in terror and her mouth forming a rigid 'O' as the blood began to flow from her mouth, trailing down her face and clogging in her long flaxen hair. The girl stood back, her eyes ablaze with cruelty as she looked down at her victim. Carmilla's skin was withering, shrinking and sagging. Her bones cracked and she screamed a long painful scream as her body began to collapse on itself as though it had been filled out with the blood that now gushed from her open mouth and from the wound in her back. She pulled herself onto her hands and Harry choked back his horror as she retched and heaved the black blood from her mouth. She fell forward, her pale skin contrasted starkly with the gore which lapped at her body, never leaving the scintillating circle of magic around the two women. Carmilla lay completely still and, even though he was used to vampire stillness, Harry could see that Carmilla was dead.

Suddenly Harry felt he could move. The vampires must have felt the release of the magic too because Spike was rushing forward. He was grabbed by Mitchell who hauled him bodily back from the circle which still shimmered around the women.

'Spike, no!' He shouted at the blonde vampire who was fighting to be set free. 'You saw what happened to Francis!' Mitchell's nostrils were flared and Harry noticed that all the vampires seemed to be reacting to the smell of the blood pooling around the fallen body of Carmilla. Instead of the attraction he had assumed they would have, all of them seemed to be utterly repelled by the smell tanging the air with iron so potent that even Harry could smell it. Edward had covered his mouth and nose, although the eyes above his hand still held a trace of amusement. Lady Elizabeth had slunk back behind the others; she was crouched down ready to attack. Harker was covering his eyes and Harry though he was weeping. Laughing Bear was standing perfectly still; his face was a mask of disgust.

Carmilla's murderer stepped back from the corpse of her victim. Her pretty pastel dress smeared with blood where Carmilla had tried in vain to defend herself. The sweet, heart shaped face held a look of evil and cruelty so fierce that Harry could hardly bring himself to look at her. Her mouth opened wide and the pearly white teeth glinted dangerously in the torchlight. She began to laugh; the laugh was tinkling and innocent, it delighted the ear, it was rippled music in the cavern. The shimmering of the air began to increase; now everyone could see the glittering magic. It danced before the girl like heat haze, distorting and shifting her form. Her laugh swirled and echoed in Harry's head. The girl's body was changing, he could see through her, as though she was a ghost. Behind the image of the pretty little girl began to form another body, its laugh just as sweet and young. The shimmering reached a crescendo and then died down. Where the girl had stood was a young, beautiful boy. His hair was raven black and falling to his bare shoulders, his lean pale body was clad only in a pair of exquisitely fitted leather trousers. His sapphire blue eyes danced with amusement behind the sweeping dark lashes.

'What fun!' His voice was husky and seemed older than the voluptuous mouth which framed the words. Harry felt a shiver of recognition through his body, this was Dracula.

Go on review it! You know you want to!!


	40. Chapter 40

Ok, thanks to Wolfpup, Rin and Megan for the support on this. Also big hugs to Awesomesauce76 for telling me to just do it!!

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There was shivering the air around the figure of the young boy in the doorway, then he vanished. Edward stepped forward first, moving Spike out of his way to stride into the great hall. Spike was staring at the ground where Dracula had stood, he was shaking his head and Harry saw Mitchell put a hand on his shoulder. He followed Edward out into the massive, hollowed out chamber. It seemed empty but for the draped off area in the centre. Just looking at those curtains made Harry shiver. He remembered without wanting to the touch of Dracula's hand running down his body. The feeling of the cold mouth on his skin. Harry felt his heartbeat quickened and Edward turned to catch him in along red stare which ended as Harry painfully dragged his eyes away and got out his wand from his jacket pocket.

Behind the rest of the group were shuffling forward, Harker hanging at the back, Lady Elizabeth, Mitchell, Zillah and Spike on a level with each other looking warily around the empty room. Couches and cushions lined the walls; they seemed abandoned in a hurry, some of them overturned. Harry could hear his pulse loud in his ears. It made him feel exposed and vulnerable. He shook off the feeling and continued to walk forward, following Edward's movements. There was a sound behind him and he turned suddenly to see the four other vampires stopped, perfectly still. It looked as though they had stopped midstride. There was something wrong in their eyes, Harry ran back to Spike almost touching his arm in concern. He stopped within a few feet. All four vampires stared ahead, unseeing. Their eyes were milky white, all colour had been erased. Something had trapped them where they stood.

Spike was following Harry and Edward, his confidence about this whole venture had gone to dust with Sir Francis Varney. Spike had begun to like the ugly, tortured vampire as they had made their way through the tunnels. Something about his death, the finality, the suddenness of it, had scared Spike. He tried hard to think of the last time he'd been scared. Nope, he shook his head, can't think. He hoped these boys knew what they were doing, he thought to himself morosely. He wasn't sure they could trust Edward anymore; at this his eyes darted to the small lithe form of the Potter boy. Potter didn't know Edward had killed that boy did he? Could Edward pull himself back for love? Spike wasn't sure; blood lust was a mighty powerful thing.

Something caught his eye off to the side; he turned his head sharply in the direction of the movement. There was nothing there, but he could have sworn he saw a shimmer of blue, then nothing. He looked back to Potter as the boy wizard pulled out his wand. The great chamber fell away, it was if it was a watercolour painting the room around him bled and faded to another scene.

He was in a bedroom, standing in the doorway of a Victorian lady's bedroom. What the hell was going on? The walls were delicately shaded sapphire blue, the door and furniture a dark, old wood. A dressing table was in front of him, laid out with a silver hair brush and fragile glass pots of perfumes and cosmetics. The bed was the same blue, a four poster draped in heavy silks. He'd seen this room before, but where?

As he walked further in, a figure lounging in an armchair by the fire, came into his line of sight. The figure wore red and black lace, falling over her milk white breasts and pooling around her feet like blood. The long black hair was worn down, over her cheek, she looked dishevelled but gorgeous.

'Drusilla,' Spike breathed amazed. He no longer thought about the great hall, Potter and Cullen. He was here and so was she.

Drusilla stood gracefully and she held out a delicate white hand, Spike held it in his and kept her gaze as he bent his mouth to kiss her fingers, touching his tongue to them briefly. Drusilla shivered a delicious shiver.

'Oooh precious, you do know how to treat a girl,' her voice was husky with desire. She waved another hand towards the bed. 'I've brought you a little present my poppet,' she breathed, stroking his forehead with her cold hand. Her touch was like fire, how had he become so aroused? His attention was taken by something moving on the bed.

It was a girl, her blonde hair spread out over the pillow, her eyes wild with terror. Her ivory silken nightdress was long but it had been pulled up to reveal her legs, the skin creamy and soft over her thighs. Spike imagined biting down on the flesh, the blood welling up to cover his tongue and licked his lips. He moved quickly to the bed, the girl began to scream and scramble herself up against the head board, trying desperately to escape but Spike put out his hand and placed it firmly over her mouth. Her terrified eyes blazed out at him.

'Nice and easy,' Spike whispered to her, feeling his glamour surround her and her body becoming limp, 'nice and easy.' He ran his long fingers down the girl's neck feeling the delicious pulse beating quickly beneath the skin. He trailed the hand lower, lower until it was lightly touching her softly swelling breast. The girl jumped and Spike grinned and held her down more tightly with his hand on her mouth. Holding her there, he looked down at her body. Through the pale silk he could see the dark of her nipples beginning to harden from his touch. He teased around one with his fingers, feeling the flesh pucker and harden under his fingertips. Involuntarily the girl sighed, Spike smiled up at Drusilla.

'Precious, 'he smiled up at her, 'is she all mine?' Drusilla laughed a silvery tinkling laugh and nodded her head, her eyes aflame with desire as she watched the scene before her.

Spike pinched the girl's nipple hard, a gasp and a moan escaped the pink, open mouth and Spike laughed again. Shaking his head, his fangs slipping into place with an audible click he removed his hand, propping himself over the girl's body. His mouth dipped to her ear.

'Does that feel nice?' he whispered lasciviously in her ear. The girl nodded mutely, her eyes wide as she took in the fangs which were so near her throat. 'I'm going to make it feel nicer.' Spike chuckled darkly into her throat as he gently licked her skin, running his teeth over the fluttering vein.

Putting his weight on one hand he moved the other down, back to the nipple which was now hard and aroused beneath the silken nightdress. His nail traced the soft edges where the skin began to flush and the girl bucked beneath him. His mouth followed where his fingers had gone. The rough friction of his tongue on the silk was setting the girl's body on fire. She'd never felt like this before, this amazing feeling, this glorious tension building between her legs, without meaning to she opened her knees slightly. Spike's head went up. He could hear the pulse between her legs, he could smell her arousal. They were combining to make him very hungry and very turned on. He glanced at Drusilla who licked her lips, enjoying the show. He put his weight onto the girl, forcing the breath from her as his cold body made contact with her skin, the silk conducting his cold through to her skin making her shiver delightfully. With his mouth hovering over one nipple he let his fingers dance over the other, nipping sharply and then retreating, swirling, teasing. The girl sucked in her breath and began to move her hips beneath him. He could feel her hot body along the cold length of his erection. For a moment the thought being inside her, feeling her heat around him, soft and wet made him stop. The girl groaned and her hand flew to his head, encouraging him onwards. Not liking this indication of her control, he grabbed her hands in one of his and placed them firmly above her head. Holding her, pinning her down, he continued licking and sucking at her nipple through the fabric until it was soaked through. He put his hand to the neckline and grabbed the lace, pulling down hard, ripping the fabric, exposing her body. The heat of her skin against his shirt was intense, like being near a furnace. He'd forgotten how good it felt to fuck a human. The thought lingered in his head and, still holding the girl down, he took off his own shirt, laying himself along her hot skin, closing his eyes in ecstasy. This felt so good. Her heavy silken breasts topped by the hard nipples pushed against his cold chest and he bent his head to lick around them, teasing and nipping with the other hand. The girl was frenzied, her breath was ragged and hoarse and she moved beneath him, trying to create friction between their bodies.

Spike's hand gave a sharp pinch on her nipple, eliciting another moan, before he slid the fingers down her body. He toyed briefly with her navel, running his finger around the soft indentation, feeling the tiny hairs thrill against his fingertips before he moved lower. The girl was making soft mewling noises and her hips jerked up as he traced his finger into the wet blonde curls between her legs. He paused briefly to open her legs wide. The cold air assaulted her hot, wetness and she jumped again. With his mouth moving from one nipple to the other Spike began to run his fingers lightly over her, never touching with any force. She moved desperately against him, trying to find his fingers. As he toyed with the girl Spike looked up at Drusilla. She was leaning against the post of the bed, her eyes bright and her wet tongue licking her lips, she nodded encouragement to him.

The girl was oblivious to anyone else in the room now. Spike slid his cold fingers inside the folds of her pussy, his icy skin burning the sensation into the girl's flesh. His hand moved from her arms to rest firmly on her stomach and he held her still while he opened her up to him. He traced a fingertip down though the wet curls, over her mound directly on to her clit. The tiny nub of flesh was hard like a tiny nipple. The girl froze, her body arched up off the bed. Spike's finger began a lazy circle. The girl thrashed on the bed, wild and desperate. Watching her face Spike circled the finger again, relishing the hissing breath and the flush of blood under the skin on her chest as she tried to create a rhythm with his hand.

Abruptly he took the finger away, in a second his face was by the girl's, drinking in her heat as the blood pulsed in her body. Her eyes flicked open, her body still writhing on the bed beneath him. Spike lay back next to her, his hands behind his head. The girl was desperate, how could she get him to carry on, her eyes pleaded.

Spike took her hand and placed it carefully on his crotch, his erection strained at the leather; his trousers creating a perfect outline of his hard cock. The girl's eyes were wide as she realised what he wanted her to do. Tentatively she stoked along the length of him. Spike's grin widened.

'That's it love, you get the idea.' He looked to Drusilla, her mouth tilted up in amusement at the girl's naive movements.

Spike looked down to see the thin fingers grasp him through the leather, a hiss escaped from his mouth and his hips followed the hand up automatically. The girl was smiling at his reaction to the movements of her hand. She trailed a nail over where she could see the smooth head pushing at the soft leather, Spike lay back against the cushions his hands behind his head, his eyes slitting shut in lust. His hand pushed her hand away. The girl looked at his face frowning, wondering what she had done; the sight of him, hard through the black leather, had her wanting all sorts of things she'd never even thought of before. Was she doing this wrong? Spike's hand pushed gently at her shoulder, coaxing her down the bed. She struggled briefly, unsure that she could do what he was obviously telling her, but his hand was insistent and she found herself facing his hard cock, her mouth inches from the leather of his trousers. She gave him a tentative lick. He groaned and stretched out, pushing himself nearer her mouth with his hips. His hand was on her head, pushing her closer.

She ran her wet mouth over the tight leather, moaning to herself as she realised how big and hard he was. Abruptly his hand pushed her cheek, the other unzipping the leather and his cock stood out against her lips. The hand on her head guided her to the tip; it glistened with a slick sheen. She licked it gently, feeling him grind his hips upwards, pushing himself at her. She mouthed the tip, swirling her lips over the slick head, tasting his excitement. He obviously wanted more but she didn't think she could do it, this was all too frightening. She slipped her lips over him again, feeling his shudder of appreciation and feeling too the jerk as he tried to push himself further into her mouth. His hands, wound in her hair, and the sounds he was making were doing crazy things to her body. She ground herself onto the bed sheets, desperate for pressure to relieve this building, implacable tension. His hands pulled her hair gently and she gasped at the star burst of tingle in her scalp. His hips bucked forward and he plunged his hard cock into her gasping mouth. Her lips came down automatically and he began to move her head with the grip on her hair. His thrusts upwards and the pressure on her head downwards making her take him fully in her mouth. He was long and cold and thick, the slick head nudging her throat. When her initial panic had subsided she risked a look up to his face. Spike was sitting forward, his face open as he thrust into her, watching her every move. As she looked she saw him wink slowly. Then he was moved like lightening.

He was behind her, her legs splayed out either side of him. One of his hands had hitched up her hips leaving her wide open to him; the other was on her breast pinching tightly at her nipple. Her body bucked backward of its own accord, the tip of his cold cock coming into contact with her hot, wet pussy. With supernatural strength Spike pulled her slowly onto his length, savouring the hiss that came from her lips as she felt his icy member tight inside her. Pulling her up so that she lay back along his chest he thrust into her, his eyes half closed. Drusilla smiled as she watched him enjoying the girl. She reached out her hand to viciously grab and twist Spike's nipple. He moaned and thrust up into the girl again, causing her to spasm against him.

'Is she coming Spike?' Drusilla whispered leaning close into the couple as they moved in synchronicity. 'Can you feel her tight around you, squeezing you with her hot, wet muscles?' Spike nodded, his eyes closed his lips at the girl's neck. 'Can you feel her pulse around you, baby? Can you feel that red, wet beat against you?' Spike thrust again; his eyes open now, wide and staring. His body bucked again, he was clearly near his orgasm. Drusilla held his head by the hair, pushed his mouth to the girl's outstretched throat. 'Can you taste her blood, pouring down your throat Spike? Taste her blood on your tongue and teeth as you bury your hard cock in her?' Spike growled, his fangs settling on the girl's skin, just above the vein.

It was too much for him, his beast was at the surface now. The wet heat of the girl around his throbbing erection and her soft, hot body against his chest cried out to him. The blood sang in her veins, coaxing him, egging him on. He pulled back his head, trying to resist, trying to stop the beast from taking over, possessing him.

Drusilla played her fingers down the girl's body, slipping between the girl's legs and caressing her. Spike felt Drusilla's cold hand against him and knew what she was doing. The girl began to orgasm, her legs shaking wildly as her muscles clamped down on his hard length buried deep inside her. The feeling washed over him, enveloping him and sweeping him along with the moment. His teeth met through the muscles of the girl's throat, hot blood gushed down over his chin, slicking his body as he thrust into the girl's limp, shaking body. He felt himself release inside her; the rushing liquid echoing the blood pouring down his throat. The heart beat a few more feeble beats and her body slumped forward onto the bed, releasing itself from Spike's grasp. Spike looked down in horror as the image before him swam into reality. His hard, naked body was slicked with gore. Red dripped from his hands, his chin, down onto the bed, staining it scarlet like poppies. He looked up at Drusilla.

She was leaning against the bed post, her red fingers were at her moth and she sucked hungrily. In despair Spike felt his body responding. Drusilla's blue eyes bored into his. A part of his brain was trying to tell him something, something important. He tried to listen through the red lust filled haze which was starting to cloud his mind. Drusilla's eyes were brown not blue. He shook his head trying to clear the blood lust as it threatened to engulf him again. This wasn't Drusilla. As the thought settled on him like a gentle snow fall, Drusilla's body began to transform. Swirling magic filled the room and licked at her body. When it abated there was no Drusilla. Instead there was the young boy with the sapphire eyes.

Phew, review me please, my heart can't cope with the rejection!


	41. Chapter 41

Thanks as always to Rin – Chan, Wolfpup and Megan for their convincing me that it IS worth finishing this!!(despite the lack of reviewage!)

We're getting near the end!!!

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Mitchell looked after Edward and Harry as they walked into the great hall. He'd never seen this place before and the sheer size of it awed him. How long had Dracula been alive, that he could have had the time to build something as huge as this, he asked himself. A dark voice in his head asked another question; how powerful was Dracula that he had kept something this huge hidden for so long? Mitchell didn't want to listen to the dark voice but he had to admit it had a point. He could almost hear George's whining voice in his head telling him to get out, come home. The thought made him colder still. What were George and Annie thinking, back home in Bristol? Harry made as though to turn to him and Mitchell marvelled at his youth, he seemed so bloody young to be in this kind of trouble. How did they ever expect to get out of this, as if any of them were a match for something as old and powerful as Dracula? Mitchell's gaze fell on Harry as he removed his wand from his jacket and stepped forward.

Something caught his attention, just out of his line of sight. He turned his head quickly, there, a flash of green. What was it? As Mitchell turned back the columns of rock lining the great hall became the trees of a dense forest, the drapes were leaves through which moonlight filtered. He was no longer in the cavern hollowed out by centuries of Dracula's slaves; he was in a forest at night. Off in the distance shells flared briefly orange. Mitchell winced even though he knew the blast was miles away. Another flare of orange light in the distance and the sound of heavy artillery a few miles away. Ypres 1915.

The forest was damp and the smell of earth and rotting leaves were all around. Off to his left Mitchell could see the crouched form of Herrick, his maker. In just under a month of becoming a vampire Mitchell had hunted every night with Herrick. Harrick had explained that keeping his strength up in the first few years was crucial to a vampire's longevity.

'Come on Mitchell, this one's not dead yet.' Herrick beckoned with a pudgy white finger, his small piggy eyes glinting in the amber light of the flares. Mitchell shook himself, trying to escape the feeling that something was wrong, that this was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. In a blur of movement he was at Herrick's side, squatting down lightly on his haunches. Herrick lifted the soldier's head. The limp neck barely supporting the heavy metal helmet and the fragile skull.

Mitchell bent to grab the soldier, avoiding looking into his eyes. Hungrily he bit down on the grimy skin under the dirty ear. Repressing a shudder to himself until the sweet young blood flowed over his lips and ran down his throat, quenching the burning in his chest. He opened his eyes slowly still amazed at what he had become, this graceful angel of death. The ability of the blood to transform him, sharpen his senses and quicken his reflexes was still new to him.

The soldier's eye rolled wildly in its socket and he kicked out briefly, his feeble attempt to save himself was futile but it served to draw Mitchell's attention away from the blood, to remind him that this was not an animal from which he was feeding. Somewhere in his blood slaked mind the uniform of the young soldier registered. His humanity fought its way to the forefront of his mind, clawing through the blood and gore which had become his home since his turning. Since his death.

With a dawning horror Mitchell realised he knew this man, he was one of his own regiment. Mitchell recalled their shared horror that first night in the trenches, the jokes about the mud and the Bosch, the talk of sweethearts and home. Sickness swept through him like nausea and he spewed the blood back, crawling away from the broken soldier, away from his revulsion at what he had become.

Herrick stood and sneered down at him, lips curled back to show sharp teeth. His wispy ginger hair blew in the cold night air and in this light it became thicker, darker. Herrick was small in stature but his body now grew slight, almost like that of a girl. His pale face now framed a pair of large sapphire blue eyes, swept with thick dark lashes.

Mitchell stared up in horror, his brain frantically trying to process that he wasn't in the forest at Ypres, he was in the great hall and this was not Herrick, Herrick was dead. This was Dracula.

Lady Elizabeth was following behind the others. Already she was planning her escape, selling the others out was not an obstacle in her policy of survival. She would survive this the way she had survived for hundreds of years, by putting herself before all others. She scanned the great hall looking for a way out which did not mean confronting the Count. She had no argument with him, save that he had imprisoned her, and she could wait for her revenge on him.

Something red sparkled on the periphery of her vision and her eyes snapped towards the movement. A breeze seemed to stir the hangings around the walls, making the candles gutter and flicker. The cold night air reminded her of her old home, the castle high upon a hill perched in the forests.

Yes, there was her bath, deep and already swimming with slick red blood. There her servants dragging away the last girl, her corpse white and parched from the draining. Lady Elizabeth accepted the arm of her servant girl, noting with satisfaction the tremor of fright in her grip. She slipped one long pale leg into the warm bath. She noticed she was naked now but this did not bother her, how else would she be preparing to have a bath if not naked.

She surveyed with satisfaction the firm white skin of her breasts, the smooth gentle curve of her stomach. Now she was fully immersed, her neck and shoulders slimy with gore. She raised a red hand and admired the way the cooling blood thickened and dropped from her fingers like rubies. She gestured to her servant to bring another girl, more blood to make me beautiful she thought. To keep me young, to give me anyone I want.

Her servants dragged a struggling young girl; she might be no more than eleven. Her feet slipping on the red pool around the bath as she struggled to save herself. Pinning her arms back the servant held her over the Countess and prepared the knife. Lady Elizabeth took the long silver blade, crusted with drying blood and put it to the girl's neck; she smiled at the servant who was holding the whimpering girl still.

She plunged the knife into the girl's neck, feeling a thrill run through her body as she watched the blood fountain out, pumping its warm jet over her body and into the bath. The girl's eyes rolled in pain and Lady Elizabeth gazed at the expression on her face savouring her agony.

And yet there was something familiar about this girl. Something about how her mouth curved, the colour of her hair, the shape of her nose as she cried out in pain.

'Mother!' she cried out, 'mother you have killed me!' The jigsaw puzzle fell into place with sickening clarity. Lady Elizabeth looked at the face and saw herself there, knew that this was her daughter, taken from her when she was only days old, merely a baby. Her hands reached out to stem the spray of blood but it was too late. She covered her face with her hands, trying to clear her mind of what she had done, done to her own child! The blood stung her eyes and the tears that feel from them were bitter. Through the tears and the blood the countess saw her servant laughing. She reached forward to grab the woman, to shake her, to make her realise what she had done but instead she found herself gripping onto a small boy. A small boy with eyes like sapphires.

Please review and let me know what you think so far!! The Count's got to mess with Zillah's head next before we start on Harry and Edward!!


	42. Chapter 42

Zillah had faced many battles before. He remembered the fall of Rome as the barbarians had plundered and destroyed the proud empire's capital, before that he remembered the rise of the Christians; their simple faith branching into something that wielded power and fear across its followers. As he watched the careful movements of Harry and Edward his long memory was triggered.

It was gloriously bright here in the courtyard of the palace. For a moment he lifted his face and revelled in the hot caress of the sun was it bathed him in its heat. He couldn't remember when it had felt so good. He squinted into the sun, the blinding disc in the sky blazed down upon him, blessing him with its light. He closed his eyes and bowed low beginning the prayer to the sun god Aten.

'You are beauteous, mighty and radiant,' a soft voice echoed his own words before they were taken up by the small group of priests behind him. He glanced to his side. Nefertiti, most beautiful of all the women of Egypt, caught his eye and smiled excitedly. She always loved the noon day prayer to Aten, feeling His divine light caressing her body. Her profile was sharply delineated by the bright light which hid nothing. Other women would be fearful of this harsh exposure but Nefertiti had nothing to fear in Aten's searching gaze. Her skin was as smooth as it had been when he had first seen her and her voluptuous body was still as supple and lithe as a panther. He felt his body harden in response to her wicked smile and struggled to pull his thoughts back to the great sun god. He must show his worship of his god, it was what the priests expected of him, Akhenaton, son of the Sun.

'Raised high over every land, Your rays embrace them, to the limit of all You have made.' He saw his wife's smile widen at the word 'rise' and her body trembled with a sinful giggle. He smiled in return, surely the great Aten would not forbid this feeling he still harboured for his wife? Surely it was Aten's will that they should beget a large family to continue the worship of His great name and power. After all, for sixteen years he had swerved the course of Egypt's belief, bringing the light of Aten, the one true god, to the land of his fathers. It had not been easy and there had been unrest at his breaking up of the temples to the other gods but he knew in his heart he was leading his people into a grand age, led on by Aten's brilliant light.

'Being Re, You reach their end. You bend them for your beloved son.' He heard behind him the slow intonation of the priests he had appointed. Only one of them, Ay the courtier priest, seemed preoccupied. Once his loyalty to Aten had been questioned, had he not been born of the family of priests to the old goddess Sekhmet? His family had been angry with Ay for accepting the priesthood of Aten the Most High God. For centuries they had officiated at her shrine in Itjway, sacrificing and tending to the big cats which were her symbol. She was a fiersome goddess, the embodiment of the destructive powers of Ra, her father the sun god. Her worshippers felt threatened by the rise of Aten, the One True God as well they might, for her temples were destroyed and the privileged lives of her priests were changed forever by Akhenaton's reign. He had interviewed Ay himself when he had heard of his request to join the priesthood of Aten. Surely a young man with such a family tradition would have suspect motives for wishing to become a priest to the god who had destroyed his family's prestige and livelihood? But Akenhaton had found no such conflict in Ay. His love for the Sun God was absolute; he explained that he felt no conflict in his heart in the worship of Aten. After all wasn't Aten the Great Sun, destroyer and bringer of life just as Sekhmet herself. Peoples' understanding of the God's nature had merely changed seemed to be Ay's reasoning.

Akenhaton had instantly liked the young man's smiling eyes and open face and had gladly initiated him into the High Circle of Aten.

'Though You are far, your rays are on Earth.  
Though seen by them, your course is unknown.' The prayer was ending. Worship would be over until they gathered again for the worship of the setting Aten. Akenhaton stretched his arms wide to accept the blessing of his god for whom he had sacrificed and risked so much. He felt the blessing of the Divine Sun upon his body and his mind turned to his beautiful wife now standing beside him waiting for his attention. He turned to her and saw that Ay was waiting too.

'Beloved,' he nodded to Nefertiti who smiled in return. 'I must consult with Ay before I join you in the palace.' Her face fell a little in disappointment, she had felt sure she would be joining him in lovemaking very soon and now boring business would occupy him. He saw her disappointment and touched her chin softly. 'I will meet you in the bedchamber very soon.' He smiled and kissed her gently, pulling her soft body close to him so that she could feel his hardness. She shivered delightfully under his touch. He released her and she turned to go, the scent of her perfumed hair tantalising his senses as she turned her head and smiled to him.

'Do not be too long Brother Husband,' she called in her seductive voice, using his official title to let him know she would submit to his every whim once he had finished with the boring business of ruling. Still smiling he turned his attention to Ay, the young man was looking at his sandaled feet but the expression on his face showed he had caught the exchange between his pharaoh and his wife.

'Ay, what is it you wish to discuss?' Akhenaton's voice was smiling and he tapped his foot impatiently so that Ay laughed at the mock annoyance of his sovereign. His animated face looked into his king's eyes briefly before they scanned his golden sandals again in respect.

'I wondered if my dread lord might want to continue what he had begun before the calling to prayer?' He scuffed the floor still unsure of the feelings of the illustrious young man before him. In answer Akenhaton reached out his long hand and pushed Ay back into the shadow of the great pillars which lined the courtyard. Ay let out a gasp as Akhenaton's mouth fixed firmly to his own and his pharaoh's tongue wriggled into his mouth, probing and owning his pliant subject. The pharaoh's hands roamed Ay's body, pinching and stroking with dexterity, provoking a soft moan from Ay's lips. There was ferociousness to Akhenaton's hands which aroused Ay more than he could possibly imagine. It seemed as though the fire of the very sun Himself shone out from the king's fingers as he brought the young priest to the brink of orgasm. He released Ay's mouth and the young man stood back gasping for air in the hot darkness of the shadows. He was painfully hard and he knew that his erection would be obviously in the short kilt he wore as servant of Aten. Akenhaton looked into the young priest's eyes, savouring the desire he saw there. He had no intention of allowing Ay the release he craved just yet; he wanted Ay to worship him, to arouse him so that he would be ready for his queen.

Still gazing into the young man's eyes he pushed him to his knees. Ay looked up at his king, his eyes dark with lust. The sandy ground beneath him made the position uncomfortable but this served nothing more than to heighten his own arousal. The pharaoh's short kilt of golden fabric bulged in front of his mouth. He waited for instructions.

'Take me in your mouth Ay.' Akhenaton's voice was hoarse. Ay's nimble fingers lifted the hem of the pharaoh's skirt revealing his hard cock, glistening at the tip with his arousal. Ay's ran a hand lightly over the length, feeling its girth and weight and wondering, not for the first time, how he was going to fit it all in his mouth. He put his lips to the tip and licked the juices which slicked over the smooth head. He heard the pharaoh sigh above him. Eager to please his lord he sucked gently at the tip until Akhenaton's hands twisted in his hair and he knew that the king wanted more of his mouth. In his experience he knew that the pharaoh would not be happy until the entire length of his hard cock was in Ay's warm, wet throat. He slipped his lips further along the hard length, tasting the sweat and desire of his master. Akenhaton looked down at the boy, the sight of the soft lips moving over him, the feeling of the tight mouth as the boy sucked on him was exquisite. He closed his eyes and leant back against the pillar, the intricate carvings to the God of the Sun pressing into his back where his robes left his skin free. Ay took more and more of him until he felt his cock at the back of the young man's throat. He felt Ay hesitate and wound his hand tighter still in his hair, urging him to take more. Ay's throat relaxed and Akenhaton began to thrust slowly into his mouth, pulling out until the tip of his cock touched Ay's lips and then sliding himself back inside with a moan.

Ay felt a soft touch at his own straining erection. His hardness had become painful and the touch brought relief. He realised that this was the pharaoh's foot, bare from his sandal, stroking at his cock as he swallowed the other man into his mouth. He began to thrust against the foot, feeling the sand rubbing his tender skin, grateful that his master wished to give him pleasure too, no matter how demeaning the form of his release might be.

Akenhaton felt Ay's thrusting against his toes and held his foot still. Ay stopped momentarily but then his movements began again, more urgent than before as his desire spurred him on. For a moment Akenhaton tried to imagine the scene of them, the young man kneeling and worshipping his master with his mouth, the long lazy thrusts of Akhenaton's hips causing Ay to gag briefly on the hard cock stuffed into his throat. Ay's frantic thrusting against his foot as his lord deigned to allow him release. The image inflamed his desire to a white heat. The servitude of the young man and the feeling of his wet mouth fusing together to build Akhenaton's desire to an apex. Abruptly he pulled his wet cock from Ay's mouth. He felt the boy groan as his saliva strung between them. He rubbed himself harder against the pharaoh's foot, beyond control now. He leaned back on his arms and Akenhaton looked down as he held his foot perfectly still so that Ay had to work for his release. The young man's body spasmed and he came with a grunt. It was not an easy orgasm; he had strained and pushed for it. Akenhaton did not wait until Ay's cock had finished its twitching, his cum spurting from him and glistening on the sandy floor. He slipped his sandal back onto his foot, turned his heel and without a backward glance walked away, covering his now painful erection with his hand as he walked into the palace.

He found Nefertiti in the bedchamber. She was lying on the bed smiling at him as he approached. She glanced down at his body and noticed his hardness. Her eyes widened and she moved to sit up on the bed. The filmy golden robe she wore showed her breasts, the nipples firm and flushed with desire. Akenhaton knelt beside her and began to pinch at the hard peaks, gently at first and then with more insistence as Nefertiti moaned and writhed on the bed. Akenhaton held her shoulder and flipped her over onto her stomach. He looked down at her as she ground her hips into the bed, her mouth still open in lust. With both hands he lifted up her hips and parted her legs. She slipped down slightly on the silky covers and he slapped her hard. Obediently she knelt again, her face pressed into the pillows. Her legs were splayed wide and he could see her glistening sex dripping with arousal. Ay's spit had dried on his cock and he ran a finger over her folds as she wriggled before him. He smeared her juices down his hard length anticipating the hot tightness of her pussy. He positioned himself at her entrance and gave her the tip of his erection. She held still and he spanked her lightly across her round buttocks.

'Show your obedience to your lord, my queen.' He commanded. She thrust carefully back on to him, not taking his full length, wary of his size. 'More,' he ordered, slapping her more forcefully. When she did not service him as he wished he grabbed her hair and she reacted by pushing back onto him fully. He was now deep inside her and he held her by the hair.

'Move for me, service me. Do I need to move to have you pleasure me? Am I not your master in all things my queen?' His voice was cold despite the excitement building in his body. Nefertiti moaned and moved herself along his length, pushing so he was inside her fully and moving away so that his tip touched the lips of her sex. He closed his eyes and imagined it was Ay beneath him, bucking and moaning. Ay's tight muscles around him squeezing and contracting. Nefertiti's movements became frantic and without rhythm as she neared her own orgasm. His eyes snapped open and his hand slapped her again, hard. She cried out and tried to move more steadily, feeling herself slipping to the edge. He pulled back on her hair with one hand, now thrusting into her lifting her knees from the bed with the force of his movements. He felt the pressure building in his body, felt himself rising on the wave of his release and crashing down onto the queens' writhing body as he crushed her to the bed with his weight. There was a noise behind him, still riding the wave of pleasure he turned to see Ay, standing with a look of determination on his face. He was pointing something at the pharaoh. Akenhaton tried in vain to take in what was happening. Ay's mouth moved quietly as he invoked the charm, the curse of Sekhmet, destroyer goddess of the sun.

A chill fell over Akhenaton's body which had so recently been on fire with lust. The cold settled in his bones, filling him with ice where he had felt the fire of his hot blood. He looked down and saw with horror his skin; it was bleaching from the warm chocolate to a sickly paleness. He was being transformed, becoming something else, something unholy. He tried to cry out but the cold had reached his lips and he could only stare as Nefertiti cowered before him on the bed. She pointed an accusing finger at his cold, white body.

'Undead,' she whispered. As the truth of her words assaulted he Akenhaton felt all he held dear pass away from him. He would never again see the glorious sun, his Aten, never feel His heat upon his body, and never walk in His holy rays. He had become an abomination.

Ay stood quietly now, his hand no longer pointing at the creature the pharaoh had become. Ay's dark brown eyes melted into glacier blue pools. His skin paling in a mockery of his pharaoh's alabaster body. Akenhaton looked at the transformed boy, Zillah saw Dracula before him. The boy was laughing.

Ok, so now we're up to Harry and Edward! Give me some review love and I'll try to update soon!!


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